Polishing with a dremel...

BruiseLeee

BruiseLeee

Joined
Sep 7, 2001
Messages
5,946
How good is polishing a khukuri sized metal object with a dremel, felt wheel and buffing compound?

How even will the finish be?

I live in a refrigerator box, so I don't have enough room for one of them fancy wheels. :(
 
I use the dremel all the time for buffing, etc... It works fine if your patient. I dont expect it can remove as much material, though as one of them big bad boys. So if your khuk is more pits, that smooth then it will probably start to get frustrating.
 
Someone mentioned electric sanders a month or two ago.

My little Mouse sander is apartment sized.

Sander has advantage of being a larger flat surface.

Mine's noisy enough that I like to wear earplugs,
but probably would not bother the neighbors.
This one makes little 1/4" circles.
Others are straight lilne and random pattern.

I use sanding disk adhesive and worn out,
velcro-backed pads to mount the paper grit that I want
(including new steel-wool paper)to the original velcro sheets.

Scubby pads from the kitchen aisle or auto store
adheres to the velcro pretty well all by itself.

Easy to insert hard or soft backings behind the paper
[haven't yet tried leather or wood and polishing compound]
as long as you don't make it too thick.
Even mild shapes should be possible with silicon caulk.

I'm still hand-holding the sander.
I want to make a mount for it so I hold the blade
rather than the other way 'round.
Also, a mount could probably be enclosed/soundproofed.

Must be careful around sharp edges or you cut into your pad.
 
Bruise-
We have a Foredom, bout same as a Dremel, which works o.k., but I didn't use it to polish out a kuk with some rust on it I got from UB. Remember back a few days ago when we were talking about making & using strops? One I made it glued to a piece of some sort of composite material I dug out of the dumpster that is the same width as an old belt I have. Cut belt in two pieces & glued the pieces on each side of the the composite stuff; inside out. The rust was mostly around the tip on both sides & up on the flats....kuk was 18" WW II. I loaded on side of the belt with rubbing/polishing compound, Turtle Wax brand from auto Zone, & laid the kuk on it & just started working the worst areas first, then the tip & the spine. The compound with dry out so I spray a little H20 on it when it does...that way you don't have use as much rubbing compound once the belt is coated. For the areas that were not flat, I did the same thing using an old belt secured to the wall.....pulled it up to the desired tension with my left hand while working the blade with the tip trailing with the right hand. Today, you can see a little discoloration in the blade in a few spots, but you can not feel anything on the surface of the steel; it is all smooth. When you get the finish where you want it, you can load the other side of the belt with a polishing compound like SemiChrome or something, & do the same routine again. Then use either the rigid strop or the loose ones to finish up the sharpening, if you are planning to shave with it. The kuk I mentioned left my lleft arm completely hairless from elbow to wrist. Have to test blades on my leg now while waiting for the arm hair to grow out! The ultimate test is to lather up a spot with the old shaving brush & see what happens.....haven't gotten brave enough to try this on my face yet, but the above method will get the edge that sharp & the rest of the blade that polished!!:p

Hope this helps. The Foredom tool might be faster, but I just like having a kuk in my hand!:)
 
Bruiser - As Fed says, you can polish with a Dremel, but it is tedious. I use a felt "drum" with a mild white rouge (intended for plastic surfaces) for limited areas on a blade, and the same rouge on a rag or backed pad to blend it out so the entire surface looks even. If you do a whole blade with a Dremel, it will show streaks, and need the hand-blending anyway. If you get one with a variable speed control, use it on the lower speeds, with very light pressure, the final hand polish will be much easier.
 
Wal you got streaks with a dremel? I gotta admit that I never have. What compounds are you using? Ive been switching between flitz, and turtle wax for the blade. I have used emory cake, tripoli, and the red jewelers rouge. But still found the best results with the dremel, on steal was the flitz, and final polish turtle wax. I just wipe on the blade, and then go at it with dremel with the felt wheel.
 
I've only used the red and white rouge. Maybe it is cutting too fast for a good polish - bingo, streaks. I've only had the problem on flat surfaces, and then it is slight enough that it can be rubbed out easily by hand. I've used the Flitz and Turtle wax, too, but as hand-rubbing mediums - never tried them on the wheel. If you stop learning, there ain't no sense in keepin' on breathin'. Just wastes oxygen. I wonder what would work on a very hard wood, at slow speeds :D
 
Wal-am actually working on some real hard ebony right now. Ive experimented with normal sanding (to high grit), buffing with the various compounds, etc... So far they all seem do work out just about the same, with about the same results. The darn ebony is so hard, I dont know if much of anything really effects it.
 
So I went down to the jeweler's supply store, and picked up a big ol' block of Tripoli, and Green Chromium oxide. How exactly do I get them on the strop? Just rub? And is it better to use the hair side of the leather, or the flesh side?

Oops, I guess that was two dumb questions for the day. :rolleyes:

Thanks! :cool:
 
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