How do I smooth the edges on the top (dull side) of a knife blade?

B

bluedune03

Joined
Dec 5, 2007
Messages
12
Good afternoon.
I'm wondering if anyone can help me with this problem. Virtually every knife I have has the top of the blade squared off making it uncomfortable when I use my thumb to press on it. Does anyone have a recommendation on how to round off or smooth those edges? I have no power tools so using a grinder wouldn't help me. Thanks a lot for the help and best wishes for the Holidays!
 
I got a knife a couple of years ago that had very crisp(almost sharp) edges on the spine. I used my Spyderco medium rods, and then the fine rods too smooth them out, and it worked very well. You can't even tell it has been done, I now carry it often and it feels great on the thumb.
Only took about 5 to 10 min.
 
Put some wet/dry sandpaper on a rubberized mousepad, and then run the spine across it like you would a strop (almost exactly like the process you'd use for convexing an edge). Start with a coarse or medium grit and work your way to however fine a grit you want.

If you think you'll want to use the knife to strike a firesteel at some point, you might consider keeping the edges sharp. Or leaving one side/section.
 
Wet/dry sand paper works. I use a sanding block with my sand paper.

I rounded the spine on my tenacious so it is half round.

Ric
 
flarp said:
Put some wet/dry sandpaper on a rubberized mousepad, and then run the spine across it like you would a strop (almost exactly like the process you'd use for convexing an edge). Start with a coarse or medium grit and work your way to however fine a grit you want.

If you think you'll want to use the knife to strike a firesteel at some point, you might consider keeping the edges sharp. Or leaving one side/section.
Click to expand...
+1 This works very well. Did it to my BK 14 and to the new knife I am making.
 
Cardboard is a good medium for a final polishing (Chinese cardboard is coarser/faster.).

Meanwhile, people post about not being able to generate sparks from ferrocerium rods with the spines of their knives because they are not square enough and ask how to square off the spines.

Different strokes etc.
 
The mousepad/sandpaper method works great for a lot of things and it's my first method of attack for a badly chipped/damaged edge. If you have a small hand-held belt sander, try holding it on the floor with your feet and use it to round off your edges - works wonderfully - but since you said you only have hand tools, I would probably just go at it with a file, then a sandpaper block/mousepad to smooth the rough edges.
 
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