Need help with blasting (especially Zirblast ceramic beads)

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frankdelalla

Joined
Jan 16, 2015
Messages
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Hello Knife makers!

I've read a few posts where Zirblast ceramic beads are recommended, but no pictures showing the finish. Here's what I'm looking for:


1. Pictures of the finish Zirblast Ceramic Beads leave on a blade.
2. What steels will it work well with. (I currently use CPM 154, CPM 3V, O1 and A2)
3. Any other advice you have blasting to finish blades after heat treat.

Thanks for any help!
 
Hey Frank,

I use a mixed media (AlO2 and glass beads) I get from Grainger. It gives a nice matt finish on Hardened M390 and S35VN. I'd like to see some pictures if you do some knives with the ZirPro. I's also like to know the cost of the media. Hope you can get some and share the results with us.

Tim
 
Thans 12345678910 and Tim.

Hey Tim,

Would you mind showing a picture or two of what your finish looks like and maybe tell me how you get there in terms of prepping the the blade before hand?
Thanks!
 
Hey Frank,
I'll try to get some pics tonight. I just got Windows 10 and I haven't figured out how to get pics into the computer - maybe I need some software that didn't come with the free version of W10.

All I do to prep the blade is wash it with acetone to get the grease off and blast it.

Tim
 
I use a combination of abrasive glass and two different sizes of glass beads. I actually setup three blast cabinets in an effort to reduce time. I max out my pressure at 100 psi and use a 100% duty cycle, 80 gallon compressor. The glass beads come from Tacoma company. They also make blast cabinet upgrades, as the cheap Chinese units have several issues as they come. I've only tried these finishes on CPM 154 and S35VN. Both at 60 RC to 62 RC.

The abrasive is for cleaning and roughing the handle area for max epoxy adhesion. It leaves a very rough surface on hardened CPM154. The larger beads peen the surface and leave a semi rough surface. I then finish with an ultrafine bead to give a satin, almost polished finish that is smooth and surprisingly scratch resistant. As in chopping dried quakies won't hurt it at all.

To get best results, the surfaces have to be very smooth. Not mirror, but scratches have to be smoothed out as well as any imperfections in the bevel lines and plunge lines. The final finish will accentuate issues as opposed to hiding them. I usually finish with a 400 grit cork belt having used first a 120 then 220 belt.

I've also mixed some abrasive with the fine beads for interesting results. It ended up a darker gray color that wasn't rough, but not really smooth. It went to a construction business owner that abuses the daylights out of his knife and it's holding well. This finish is also more abusive to kydex than the other way around. I had issues with the really fine belt finishes getting scratched fairly easily.

Check out my "knife Pics" folder on my FB for examples. If needed, I can also try to post some here.
 
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