Sandblasted finish

J

JS knives and sharpening

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Jul 21, 2024
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Just curious if anyone here has done a sandblasted finish and how does it hold up? I know there is a variety of finishes, but I was interested in going for that more matte look. You still have to make sure your previous grit marks are gone. I went up to about 320 grit with hand sanding to get rid the scratches which was not the most efficient, but it worked, and when I got a nice even finish I sandblasted it. It came out really nice and the knife I did it on seems to still have a decent level of corrosion resistance. It is a Vintage 42S Chicago Cutlery 8" chefs knife that I found at D.I. and was really beat up. It had a good number of decent sized nicks on the edge, as well could tell the knife had been through the dishwasher a lot because of how swollen the handle was. It was more than 1/16" above brass rods and the tang. I sanded it all down, took off all the sharp edges and made nice smooth transitions. I rounded the spine and choil, sharpened it up, reground the primary bevels, and then applied a nice tung oil, mineral oil, coconut oil, and beeswax finish to the handle. The scratches on the sides are from me accidentally hitting it with the edge of my abrasive belt when I was working on the handle. I am curious if this might work as a good finish for other knives. I also thinned it and brought up the primary bevel. Thoughts?
Here is the knife:

https://imgur.com/a/i6QEgvI

Sincerely,
JS
 
I retired from my day job three years ago, while there I sand blasted a lot of knives with a large sand blaster used to blast gas meters for rebuilding. it was powered by a 20 HP compressor and worked great. then a new supervisor got in that department and changed the media to real course, it left what looked like a crystalized kind of finish and actually thru sparks from the blades.
not good and ugly. he was a nice guy but didn't really know anything about that end of the business, I convinced him that course media was bad for the recovery system, and could damage it and some smaller meter parts they were doing.
he changed over to a much finer grit, finer then what was used originally. it worked great for the meters and really great on my knives! mostly I was doing stainless blades and really never had any corrosion problems, and that was near the gulf in Florida. for me it was kind of an oddball finish but it was nice to have it available. I might set up a system in my new shop one day but I'm not sure the investment of a big compressor with a big tank would be worth it to me for as often as I might use it.
 
Cool, I like the nice matte finish it produces, and am glad to hear that it is an actually viable finish option. That was the sort of finish that I was planning on doing for my first custom chefs knife, and was trying to figure out if I would need to do another finish instead. Also, I am glad you actually have some experience with this, as I found only one video, and nothing else helpful on actually doing a sandblasted finish on knives. Hopefully this helps others on knowing that there are more finish options if they want to get a particular look!

Sincerely,
JS
 
Let's punch some science into this.
When sanded, there are grooves with sharp peaks that produce ions that removes chrome oxide from the surface and corrosion begins. Higher the peaks, faster corrosion (low grit). Sandblasting with low grit is worse.
Fix: handsand to high grit, 1000 or more, sandblast with higher grit (based on the looks one wants) and passivate.
Passivation: electropolishing (normal or plasma) or citric acid. It removes all micro and nano size crap from the surface so the oxide layer is healed.
If sanding to 320 grit, sandblast with ceramic, glass or steel round media to level those peeks, passivate, sandblast with high grit for looks, passivate again.
It will be stainless as a 1000 grit finish.
 
Thanks Joe for your contribution! As said, I hope this thread will be helpful for those who want another option. Thank you for your help with that effort, and how to do it correctly to get good corrosion resistance! It is greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,
JS
 
I forgot to mention the media used were glass beads, medium, then course, then fine. I have seen some sand blasted blades that looked pretty bad, not from the media put how it was applied.
you need an almost endless supply of high pressure air. a small pancake or shop compressor won't be able to keep up to get consistent even coverage. that's why I'm hesitant in getting a set up in my shop, it's a pretty big investment in a good size compressor. anyway, here's a couple pics of a blade I did about 15 years ago. it hasn't seen any hard use, mostly riding in a kydex sheath tucked in my snake boots while hog hunting.

This knife has just been laying around my shop other wise in the Florida humidity and doesn't show any corrosion. I'm kind of surprised how well it's held up just laying around for 15 years, it does have a few light scratches from the kydex. I think this finish definitely has it's place on certain knives.
DANG IT!, this thread might have just cost me a grand getting a new blaster set up in my shop! :D

8LBXScZ.jpg

MgVEzl7.jpg
 
bladegrinder said:
I forgot to mention the media used were glass beads, medium, then course, then fine. I have seen some sand blasted blades that looked pretty bad, not from the media put how it was applied.
you need an almost endless supply of high pressure air. a small pancake or shop compressor won't be able to keep up to get consistent even coverage. that's why I'm hesitant in getting a set up in my shop, it's a pretty big investment in a good size compressor. anyway, here's a couple pics of a blade I did about 15 years ago. it hasn't seen any hard use, mostly riding in a kydex sheath tucked in my snake boots while hog hunting.

This knife has just been laying around my shop other wise in the Florida humidity and doesn't show any corrosion. I'm kind of surprised how well it's held up just laying around for 15 years, it does have a few light scratches from the kydex. I think this finish definitely has it's place on certain knives.
DANG IT!, this thread might have just cost me a grand getting a new blaster set up in my shop! :D

8LBXScZ.jpg

MgVEzl7.jpg
Click to expand...
Glass beads are very different from what the op is talking about (sand). Glass beads peen the surface (and give a light gray satin-ish finish)... Sand/aluminum oxide etched into the metal and will give a place for corrosion to latch onto (and gives a matte finish like sebenza scales).
 
That is a nice looking knife! Good job on that nice hollow grind, looks good, and same with the handle, looks like it has some nice texturing on what I am assuming is a Micarta handle! And as said thanks for everyone who has helped with fleshing out this topic more, as it is hard to get good information on it normally which is why I created this thread as I was having trouble finding any resources for sandblasting blades, and what sort of finish it leaves, and what media works better. Thank you! And as said, hopefully this thread will be helpful in giving more options for Knifemakers and prospective Knifemakers.

Sincerely,
JS
 
Can anyone give me feedback on a comparison between vapor hone and glass bead? When I put my addition on, I'm hoping to add a vapor hone, but would love to hear real world differences
 
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