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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #1  
Old 01-29-2013, 07:40 PM
troglodyte troglodyte is offline
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Smile newbie needs help. AGAIN

hello folks. Trog here again. Still reading and trying to learn. Spouse gave me a craftsmen 2x42 sander and 8" buffer for Xmas. What selection of buffing compunds do I need for knife finishing. Also got my forge finished. Changed to a 3/4" burner per your advice and it works great. So thank you all very muc for the advice. P.S. using 1084 steel instead of 5061 was also great advice thanks. Maybe in a while I will have a finished knife to show. Thanks again.
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Old 01-29-2013, 10:56 PM
thales thales is offline
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A lot depends on the materials and techniques you use, so a simple answer is not available. Here is a link to Caswell's tutorial page on polishing/buffing, compound and wheel selection, etc.

http://www.caswellplating.com/buffman.htm

This is a pretty good start, but you will still need a lot of practice, and encounter plenty of frustration, before you get good results. There are many things that can go wrong, but getting past the obstacles is the true value of this game.
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Old 01-30-2013, 09:38 AM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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What Thales said is very true. I'd add that the answer will further depend on whether you're buffing the blade or the handle. My best advice there is: forget about buffing the blade, period. The buffer is the most dangerous tool in the shop and buffing the blade is exactly when it's most likely to be dangerous. Even when everything works as planned all you end up with is a shiny blade. Shiny blades scratch easily and then look bad. There is absolutely no advantage to having a shiny blade, none whatsoever, unless you're trying to trade with primitive bushmen to get ivory. New guys always want to buff their blades - don't be that guy. You can buff your blades when you're building knives for collectors but you're not ready for that yet.

Buffing handles is much easier and quite a bit safer. If you use stabilized wood or synthetics (Micarta, G-10, Dymondwood) then all you need is some White Diamond and some No Scratch Pink. For plain wood you'll have to match the buffing process to whichever of the million types of wood finishes you might choose to use. I think that link Thales provided will probably answer a lot of the 'what goes with what' questions you'll have but, if it doesn't, then get some catalogs from the larger knife supply places like Jantz and K&G. They have good descriptions of what each compound can be used for and they types of wheel they should be used with ...


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Old 02-06-2013, 06:22 PM
bob levine bob levine is offline
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I beg to differ with Mr. Rogers. A highly polished blade show not only the skills of the knifemaker but more importantly the blade that is highly polished will not hold water or blood.
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Old 02-06-2013, 07:15 PM
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Seemus7 Seemus7 is offline
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Sorry to threadjack but what would be the best way to give a blade a satin finish?? scotchbrite?? just finish to 400 Grit? Combination of both?
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Old 02-06-2013, 08:29 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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"best' usually boils down to what you have available. Some guys do great satin finishes using only sandpaper (maybe with water, oil, or whatever). Others, like me, are lazier and will use sandpaper up to about 400 or 600 grit and then follow with ScotchBrite.

The decision about how you do it will partly depend on what you have to use but also on what kind of target you have. If you are trying to make the finest, most collectible blade possible you'll probably stay with sandpaper. If you want a good, durable, nice looking finish for a working knife then ScotchBrite might be your choice....


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Old 02-07-2013, 08:21 AM
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rockhound rockhound is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bob levine View Post
A highly polished blade show not only the skills of the knifemaker but more importantly the blade that is highly polished will not hold water or blood.
agree.
I share Jay Fisher's philosophy regarding this. I'm not at this skill level yet but definitely agree.


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advice, art, blade, building, choose, diamond, forge, handle, ivory, knife, knife supply, knifemaker, knives, materials, micarta, newbie, primitive, scratch, simple, steel, supply, tutorial, wood


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