Hand Polish a Bead Blasted Blade

b.c.molin

b.c.molin

Joined
Nov 28, 2008
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2,165
Never posted in this sub-forum before because I am not a handy-man type. No DIY experience and little aptitude. But necessity is a great prompter.

I have a 1 week old Kershaw Junk Yard Dog II 1725ST with a Sandvick 13C26 blade and unknown steel linerlock frame.

I am getting pin point rust spots on the blade. Advice as per this thread is to polish the blade (and I assume frame?) to reduce the rust problem.

I have no mechanical tools nor access to them. What hand polishing method's and materials can I use to polish my knife to obtain a more rust resistant shiny finish please?

Step by step instructions would be much appreciated along with suitable product recommendations?
 
Try wet/dry sandpaper, start at 220 then move up to 400 if you like the finish at that point give the blade a light polishing on a cotton buffing wheel with some white or green compound. For a higher gloss finish use higher grit sandpaper before polishing. To make it look like a factory grind lay the sandpaper on something hard and flat, use a stropping motion and keep it stright. I would start with all the small peices before doing the big sections, gives you more room for error and less swearing. Good luck and have fun its really not that hard.
 
knifenut1013 said:
give the blade a light polishing on a cotton buffing wheel with some white or green compound.
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Knifenut013 thanks for the advice and instructions ...all ok until you got to the buffing wheel ...which I don't have nor am able to access. :o

Any work-arounds regarding the buffing wheel?
 
knifenut1013 said:
Hardwear stores usually have small buffing wheels you can put on a drill.
Click to expand...

52 years old and I do not have any power tools...said I was not a Handy Man type and sadly meant it.:(

But I can do a bit of wood carving and even can use a spoke shave so I do have some patience and a small amount of aptitude?;)
 
Use finer grades of sandpaper. It is available up to 2500 grit. After 2500 grit, Simichrome polish on a rag will take it to a mirror finish.
None of this polishing will make the blade as rustproof as a light coat of oil.
 
Tis a good idea, i did it myself with only a bit of 500 grit sandpaper, i can count my eyelashes in the reflection but its not all the way to mirror shiny, good luck and use Carbide paper.
 
I start of with wet/dry paper at about 400 grit and work up to 1,000 grit. Then I buff it by hand with a rag and some flitz... it gives it a rough worn look that I really like. It doesn't look brand new and shiny... it looks like a knife that's done some things. And over time as I use it... it just gets cooler looking. I tear the paper into rectangles and then fold them into squares so that there is grit on both sides (Helps you fingers get traction) and I push it from the spine to the edge. I keep the same direction on each grit. And then the flitz finishes it up. I don't spend a great deal of time with each grit... if I did finishing with 1000 would make it quite shinny and I don't like that too much. I just want the metal smooth so that there is less drag when cutting.
 
Easy deal ... unless your blade has some deep scratches, a beadblast finish is a great starting point.

Here's my JYDII after having the blade length reduced just a bit, and given a satin finish with 4/0 (about 800 grit/mesh) emery paper:

jyd2-3.5inch.jpg


This took very little time and effort ... also bear in mind that a satin finish is much easier to maintain than a high level of polish. But either way, just follow advice already given.
 
Here's a beater JYD I did some work on. All I did was take a piece of 1200 grit sandpaper in one hand, knife in the other and rub them together. Probably looks a lot worse than what you're looking for but with more time invested you could easily get it looking nice. The sandpaper is cheap and readily available (Looks in the auto section at walmart for up to 2500 grit). What you see here was enough to stop the rusting I previously experienced with the knife.
 

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I have done this to a few knives I would say start with 400 grit work your way up untill you like what you see .VIVI is right about the automotive area in most large department stores have what you will need .I would take the blade out of the knife and put some masking tape to protect the blade and give you a good handhold on the end of the blade(the part that would be inside the handle)and hold it with some Vise Grips and then rub lenthwise making sure you get the flat parts well as the edges of the grinds will get shiny faster and work you way through the grits untill you get the look you like .If you have no other means of doing all this you will find yourself in the same boat as people all through history and you will do fine with some elbow grease and a few bucks worth of really fine sandpaper.Good luck and be careful this is a great way to get a good cut or two.
 
Get your self some wet sandpaper and go work. Start with 400 and go to finer grit to as fine as you can find, it should look pretty shiny by the time you get finished with the finest grit, then I would get some semi-chrome past or flitz work with the polish by hand until you get the results you are looking for.
 
When I first started coming here I read a thread about using a product called Mothers mag and aluminum polish and how it really worked in polishing steel. Last weekend I was at the local Advance Auto and saw some so I picked it up. Did not use it until Tuesday, but after only three polishings I could tell a difference. I have polished it three or four times a night for the past three nights, and just got through putting it back together as I had to polish the pivot area to match the rest of the blade. I really like the finished product, and I also used a piece of 2000 grit paper with some polish to do the edges of the liners. It is a cross between satin and mirror as you can see your reflection in the blade. I am really surprised how well this product worked to get the finish I got, especially since I used no sandpaper on the blade, just lots of polish.
 
Again, I really appreciate the time and effort and suggestions made. :thumbup:

Many thanks to all!
 
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