All About Pocket Knives

Whoda thunk....a rock? Thanks to my good buddy JoeDirt, he bombed me a surface block. WOWZAH! Who knew this was a vital element in knife polishing. I had no idea. I am however eternally grateful to Joe for his extreme thoughtfullness!

Thank you very, very much Joe!

I've already teid it, but it's making the blade milky......looks like I'll need further instruction!

What is that, a block of granite?

no clue Jerry....

If it fits it ships puts a whole new meaning to that lololo some great people here on aapk the best knife forum around

Use it to lay your different grades of sandpaper on for polishing. That flat surface is as essential to the process as elbow grease. There should be several posts out there on how to do it.

Elvis - I couldn't find anything on Youtube.
And I don't have the right sandpaper but I'll use it as a base for what I do!!

Very honored!!

Wet the block and lay a wet piece of "wet or dry" on it and sand away, or tape a dry piece to the granite.

Yep, what Barry said, it looks eggzactly like my kitchen counters.

Your very welcome, Scott!
Yup, it's solid granite. The flat rate box dictated the size of it - sure got the moneys worth!

I'm sure you will put it to use - once you figure it out, it's pretty simple.
Just add the elbow grease like Elvis said!

(PS Singin, don't look underneath your toaster oven. )

..... Joe

LMAO There's a rat!!

TripleF wrote:Elvis - I couldn't find anything on Youtube.
And I don't have the right sandpaper but I'll use it as a base for what I do!!

Very honored!!

It can be a lengthy process, but a simple one. I searched for a post with the instructions for blade polishing, but didn't find them so here's a rundown of the procedure.

Choosing the initial grit will probably be the toughest decision depending on how badly the blade is rusted, but let's say you started with a 400 grit wet/dry. Tape it to the granite block (right up to the edge, but don't tape the edge you're working nearest) and with the blade laying flat, rub the blade length-wise from tip to tang until the rust is gone. Move to a 600 or 800 and repeat until all the marks from the 400 are gone. Keep moving to finer grits removing the previous marks and by the time you reach 1000-1200 you'll begin to see a mirror finish come through. If your local auto paint & body store has 1500 and 2000 grit, you can be assured of a finish that will only need a light buffing when you've finished. Hope this helps.

I use a marble block of about 1" thickness simply because that's what I had, but Joe did you right with that block of granite. Yeah, he rocks!

Exactly what I've been doing Elvis, just with a piece of 1" x 1" piece of wood. I lay the sand paper on the wood and go to town, starting at the roughest grit then to the smoothest which happens to be 1500 in my case.

I notice the stone gives me more service to work on, kind of like a mini portable work bench.

Nice Scott, that is a great tool!

I actually purchased mine, a 9" X 12" piece of marble (I think) that was guaranteed to be within +/- 0.002" of being perfectly flat. I think with shipping it cost me $45.
IIRC, they called it a lapping block. It is used to make worn parts perfectly flat again; like disc or flapper valves from air compressors.

I use wet/dry sandpaper. Spray some WD40 on the block, lay down your wet/dry sandpaper then spray the top if the paper and sand away to until your hearts content, or your elbow wears out, which ever comes first.

FYI Scott, most auto parts stores and auto body supply houses will carry wet/dry sandpaper up to 2000 grit. Sometimes I have seen 2500 grit, but rarely. After 2000 I switch to 3M polishing paper.

Nice thing you did Joe!!!

Dale, what you have is a 'Granite Surface Plate'. They are normally guaranteed flat to within .0001". Woodworkers use them to true up plane blades and chisels. Sometimes they'll go the less expensive route and get a piece of 1/4" float glass which is plenty flat for the job.

Because the granite is so stable, they're also used in machine shops as a bed for precision height/thickness measurements. I've wanted one ever since I saw one at Borg Instruments in Delavan Wisconsin when I worked there in the early '90s. I don't know what I'd do with it but that's never stopped me from wanting something.

[quote="jerryd6818"] Woodworkers use them to true up plane blades and chisels. Sometimes they'll go the less expensive route and get a piece of 1/4" float glass which is plenty flat for the job.

Or you can pick up a piece of 1/2" granite tile, like that used on countertops. It's flat enough for most jobs and is usually free if you have access to a tile guy (like most of us [previously] in construction ).

jerryd6818 wrote:Dale, what you have is a 'Granite Surface Plate'. They are normally guaranteed flat to within .0001". Woodworkers use them to true up plane blades and chisels. Sometimes they'll go the less expensive route and get a piece of 1/4" float glass which is plenty flat for the job.

Because the granite is so stable, they're also used in machine shops as a bed for precision height/thickness measurements. I've wanted one ever since I saw one at Borg Instruments in Delavan Wisconsin when I worked there in the early '90s. I don't know what I'd do with it but that's never stopped me from wanting something.

See!?
We I learn something on AAPK everyday.
AAPK is very educational!

Scott, I kind of figured you "knew the drill" on this one, but the lack of grain on the granite or marble really makes a difference. It's one of those things that you get tired of using, but you love the results. Sort of the perfect gift, expecially since the post office had to do all the hard work.

thanks Elvis.......I really had no clue.

Wouldn't a 9X9 3/8"thick block of aluminum do the same thing or is it to soft ?
Donald

Aluminum is definitely hard enough, Donald.

The surface just needs to be "void of voids and ridges".
If the aluminum is extruded and has not been machined - it will likely have ridges.

To remove the ridges, you will need to lap it against another smooth surface with sandpaper in-between.
If it's already smooth - then ya got a have light weight surface block! (protect it because it IS on the soft side
and will get dinged up easily.)

..... Joe

Joe the surface is a smooth as a ( baby butt ) as the saying goes, so I'm good there just
have to keep it that a way.
Thanks for the advice
Donald