All About Pocket Knives

Just got a 1x30 sander. Tried to clean up the blade of this Western Bowie Knife. Started at 400 to address deep scratches, then moved to 800, and then to 1200 (might have done some 600 also). It was looking pretty good until I ran it through the 1200. Then I started seeing all these areas that sort of stand out. Did I move up too soon? Should I go back to 800 and see if they go away? Any advice is most welcome. Thanks!

Unfortunately you’ve fallen prey to using power equipment. It’s enticing but unless you really know what you’re doing, the result you’ve experienced is almost inevitable. For collectable cutlery the use of power sanders, Dremels, electric sharpeners, and the like are best left in the hands of pros.

Do the job by hand, go slow and deliberately, and check your work often. Metal removed is metal you can’t put back. Advice about knife cleaning can be found here : viewtopic.php?f=37&t=54157. And if you’re determined to use power equipment get several “junker” knives to learn on before trying it on anything you care about.

Ken

From your pictures, it looks to me like you never got the deeper scratches out before you moved to the finer grits. The result is you have a highly polished blade with deep scratches still visible.

The thing about most older blades and even many new ones is that they were ground on a wheel resulting in a concave grind. You'd need a wheel or platen to match that radius in order to hit the deeper middle portion of the grind. If you're using a flat platen you're only hitting the higher outside edges of that bevel and would need to completely grind it flat to reach the scratches in the center portion which would completely change the blade profile and probably ruin it. A slack belt would give you the same results while also rounding off the nice crisp angles. Hand sanding would be your best option in that case, it insures that you don't take off way too much steel.

Eric

Belt sending can build up heat and you don't want that. Also takes off more metal than is neccessary, don't want that. Hand sanding is safer and better for the steel. A block in the sandpaper is very helpful to maintain the angle and flats. Slower is better to avoid ruining the heat treatment and maintaining a consistant grind angle. Delicate beats heavy handed always on knives and anything heat treated. Good luck.

Do you have before pictures? Unless it was horribly pitted, hand sanding may have been better.

Power tools have their place, but you have to know when and when not to use them. There is only one way to learn, trial and error. Enjoy the process.

eveled wrote: ↑Sat Jan 13, 2024 1:45 pm Do you have before pictures? Unless it was horribly pitted, hand sanding may have been better.

Power tools have their place, but you have to know when and when not to use them. There is only one way to learn, trial and error. Enjoy the process.

Here's the "before" picture. It was pretty beat up and had a lot of deep scratches. I'm wondering if I should go back to a 600 grit and remove the "shine" if that would be better? Or, maybe hand sand back to a less polished look?

FWIW I like it the way it was. Honest old used knife!

From what I see it did not have any active rust. Too many folks new to collecting think a knife needs to be shiny and spotless to have top value. Fact is many if not most experienced collectors prefer them “honest”. Just remove any active rust. If you want shiny, maybe polish the blade with a little Semichrome, Flitz or similar very mild abrasive and a soft rag. Trying to restore it to factory finish removes metal, and softens the crisp lines of the knife. JMO

It’s your knife so do with it as you please. Whatever you decide to do, a coating of RenWax will retard any further oxidation.

Ken

Education is expensive. Learning to use your new sander cost you a nice Western knife.
Don't be discouraged, but use this as a learning experience.

Probably a better option would have been to ask for advice BEFORE working it on the belt sander.

OLDE CUTLER wrote: ↑Sat Jan 13, 2024 7:21 pm Probably a better option would have been to ask for advice BEFORE working it on the belt sander.

That's hilarious, OC Of all my DIY friends, I am the only one I know who actually reads the instructions before jumping into a project with a new part or tool. And even I have a hard time asking for advice from other people when it comes to driving directions or finding something in a store (it drives my wife crazy! )

BTW, Dave, you haven't "ruined" the knife (unless you were intending to sell it as a collectible). I'm sure it still cuts just as well as it did before you worked it over on your belt sander.

I agree that the knife is not ruined, but I also think that it looked just right before you started.
When I first started in this I took wanted to make an old knife gleam with a mirror finish. After all, doesn't shiny look better?
But I have learned to appreciate the patina of a good used knife. I try to clean up deep scratches, reprofile a worn or broken blade, and replace handles, and I use a 1x30 sander to do it. But I usually try to leave some of the original character of the knife.

I went back to a 400 grit and did some hand sanding. I think the appearance at this level is preferable.

It sure looks good to me after your latest work on it.

dbe4876 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 13, 2024 11:29 pm I went back to a 400 grit and did some hand sanding. I think the appearance at this level is preferable.

It looks good to me as well.

To get a blade back to a mirror polish can take 8-10 hrs depending on size and condition and no power equipment should be used until the buffing process IMHO.

You need to learn about sanding blocks and how to use them.
Notice there are no crisp lines on the blade now?

Bill DeShivs wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2024 7:57 pm You need to learn about sanding blocks and how to use them.
Notice there are no crisp lines on the blade now?

Can you explain more Bill? Do you mean use sandpaper wrapped around a block of wood? If so, how does that work better than the finger sander? Thx

Yes-using properly shaped blocks to back the sandpaper.
Doing so protects crisp lines and keeps flat surfaces flat. Curved blocks can be used for concave surfaces.