stonewash finish (advice on stonewashing)

N

NewCreation

Joined
Jun 3, 2014
Messages
31
Hello everyone,
I recieved from my grandpa for christmas a folding knife kit from knifekits and i want to put a stonewash on it. it is a chisel grind and I do not know if that will affect one side more than the other. I have never attempted a stonewash finish before now. Any advice would be VERY HELPFUL. I want to show him the knife at thanksgiving because that is the last time I see him for the year.
 
Showing the knife to your grandpa sounds like a great idea; my grandpa would have loved something like that.
To get to your question, I would try calling shops in your area that do coatings/anodizing and ask if they do a stone washing type treatment. With only one small item, I bet you will find a place that can just throw your blade in with a bunch of other stuff and do it for free or close to it. Doing it this way, though, you'll be at the mercy of the shop's schedule and it may be a week or more before they do a batch of stone washing. Also, this treatment will probably dull the edge and it will have to be resharpened. Hope you make your thanksgiving deadline!
 
I heard a tip on here a while back for stonewashing blades that works great! I can't remember who the heck told me about it, but they deserve all the credit. I have tried this method once and it came out great.

This is exactly what I did - I'm sure it probably differed at least slightly from the post I learned it from. (Because when I did it, I didn't remember the exact directions)

Take a Gatorade bottle and put the blade in it. Add a bunch of rocks. (About a third to halfway full) Spray in some WD-40 and screw the cap on. Duct tape it shut. Wrap the bottle in a thick towel and duct tape it well. You want a nice, compact, totally enclosed package. Throw it in your clothes dryer all by itself. Tumble on NO heat for a few hours. Might take less time, might take more to get your desired finish, but that amount of time worked for me.

Take out your freshly stonewashed blade, sharpen it up, and impress your Granddad!

Best of luck with your project, and please post pictures if you can.
 
Yep, AntDog has you on the right track. I can add a couple of things. If your blade is sharpened already, paint the secondary bevel with a couple of coats (make it thick) with findernail polish. This will help but not totally stop the edge from being messed up from the stone washing. You will still have to sharpen it again after the stonewashing but there will be less damage to repair. Also, use dish soap instead of WD-40 just in case the bottle opens in the dryer. I know from experience how mad a woman gets when the inside of her dryer is coated with rocks and oil. :D
 
AntDog said:
I heard a tip on here a while back for stonewashing blades that works great! I can't remember who the heck told me about it, but they deserve all the credit. I have tried this method once and it came out great.

This is exactly what I did - I'm sure it probably differed at least slightly from the post I learned it from. (Because when I did it, I didn't remember the exact directions)

Take a Gatorade bottle and put the blade in it. Add a bunch of rocks. (About a third to halfway full) Spray in some WD-40 and screw the cap on. Duct tape it shut. Wrap the bottle in a thick towel and duct tape it well. You want a nice, compact, totally enclosed package. Throw it in your clothes dryer all by itself. Tumble on NO heat for a few hours. Might take less time, might take more to get your desired finish, but that amount of time worked for me.

Take out your freshly stonewashed blade, sharpen it up, and impress your Granddad!

Best of luck with your project, and please post pictures if you can.
Click to expand...

Oh, great "home remedy" tip man. I'm gunna have to try that some time...
 
flatblackcapo said:
Yep, AntDog has you on the right track. I can add a couple of things. If your blade is sharpened already, paint the secondary bevel with a couple of coats (make it thick) with findernail polish. This will help but not totally stop the edge from being messed up from the stone washing. You will still have to sharpen it again after the stonewashing but there will be less damage to repair. Also, use dish soap instead of WD-40 just in case the bottle opens in the dryer. I know from experience how mad a woman gets when the inside of her dryer is coated with rocks and oil. :D
Click to expand...

That made me laugh out loud! I didn't even think of that! Thanks to The Lord that bottle didn't break. Eeek....

OP - take this gentleman's advice. He definitely knows what he's talking about!
 
BenchCo Spydermade said:
Oh, great "home remedy" tip man. I'm gunna have to try that some time...
Click to expand...

It works! But please add flatblackcapo's advice to the mix. It would have definitely helped me to coat the edge so it would have been easier to sharpen afterward, and dish soap would be a hell of a lot easier to clean up than WD-40.
 
Coating the edge is a good idea for sure.
If stonewashing by itself doesn't give you the desired texture, and the stone wash is too light, then try acid washing then stone washing again.
Acid washing the blade will increase the contrast and make the stone wash look more aggressive by darkening the background.

If the blade is carbon steel then you can use something like vinegar, but if its stainless you will need something more aggressive like ferric chloride. Do some reading on acid washing first, there's lots of methods.
 
Thank guys for the info! I am thinking about stone washing the knife tomorrow. I also have never posted a picture before so I don't know how?
 
I did the stonewash finish!! It did not turn out how i hoped because my mom would not let me use the dryer:( so i had to hand shake it for 20 minutes. hurt my arms, now very sore. also when i went to put the blade back on the liners i noticed the screw was striped:grey: the kit was a very cheap kit and ruined from the beginning. Now i have a semi-stonewashed blade and a pile of parts.
 
NewCreation said:
I did the stonewash finish!! It did not turn out how i hoped because my mom would not let me use the dryer:( so i had to hand shake it for 20 minutes. hurt my arms, now very sore. also when i went to put the blade back on the liners i noticed the screw was striped:grey: the kit was a very cheap kit and ruined from the beginning. Now i have a semi-stonewashed blade and a pile of parts.
Click to expand...

Welcome in the world of knife pimping :D
 
NewCreation said:
I did the stonewash finish!! It did not turn out how i hoped because my mom would not let me use the dryer:( so i had to hand shake it for 20 minutes. hurt my arms, now very sore. also when i went to put the blade back on the liners i noticed the screw was striped:grey: the kit was a very cheap kit and ruined from the beginning. Now i have a semi-stonewashed blade and a pile of parts.
Click to expand...

NewCreation, if you want to email me wwells63@aol.com, I'll see if I can help you out. Walter
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top