Tips on Finish Sanding Cylindrical Objects

A

Augus7us

Joined
Oct 9, 2014
Messages
694
I am making a few paring knives with oval shaped ferrules made from G10. They are pretty small and oblong so you can't chuck them in a drill or lathe.

I found myself trying to hold the sand paper, use a granite block and finally settled on locking it in a vise and using a cork backed sanding stick to go over small sections at a time. I found all of these to be very tedious and more time consuming than I care for.

I did try the grinder very slow with a 400 grit jflex and found it to remove to much material and it didn't leave a very good finish compared to hand sanding.

So does anyone have any good tricks or techniques for sanding stuff like this?

-Clint
 
Put something like wooden dowel that's just a bit smaller in diameter than the ferrule through the ferrule itself, and then run it on the slack portion of your belt grinder. This allows the ferrule (or any hollow round metal/pipe) to spin freely around the dowel (or w/e) as the belt also rotates, thus giving an even finish all the way around. :thumbup:

Of course this is assuming that the ferrule is not already secured to the handle. ;)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ETA: Sorry, I didn't read your entire post before replying.. :foot:

I would just sand the handle lengthwise with a soft backing for the sandpaper, or even using no backing at all. Just go all around it and make the long even strokes with the sand paper as you rotate the handle in a knife vise (or the like) just as you would when hand rubbing a blade. :)



~Paul
My YT Channel Lsubslimed
... (It's been a few years since my last upload)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the response Paul. Yeah if it was a circular in shape I could do that or try the drill / belt grinder combo. Been wanting to try that on something anyway.

In this case I can't even do the second option because I am going for an heirloom fit with the ferrule. So any slip or hesitation at the grinder will cause my fit to go south and I'll have to reshape the handle. Which is why I went to some form of hand sanding. It takes too much off on the platen but I did try the slack part of the belt while it was cranked down real slow but it wanted to wrap around it and crown the edges.

Being that it is so small I'm having a hard time doing anything but clamping it down in the panavise.

I'm thinking good ole hand power may be my only option!

-Clint
 
I've found on odd shaped pieces like you're dealing with, a 'Kraton' (sp?) tip on my dremel with some various waxes/compounds helps bring a finish to them.

I may not be interpreting your situation properly, but a ferrule like I am thinking about is a good use for the various buffing tips as well in my Dremel.
 
Hey Fish,

I actually just bought a box of a 100 or so various size cratex wheels and bullet shaped tips that I haven't tried on anything yet. I think I'll try one on a practice piece and see how it does.

-Clint
 
I think it may work for ya, I've used a lot of them in various polishing tasks, and thanks for the spelling help--Cratex--yeah that's it!!! the end results were pretty darn good on odd shaped stuff for me. I finished a lot of them off with a felt bullet tip one.
 
Could you post a picture so we can see what you're dealing with by any chance? And is the handle already attached (epoxied/pinned) to the blade?

And I'm not sure if you read the second part of my post regarding hand sanding it lengthwise just like you were hand rubbing a blade? The way I envision what you're describing sounds like you could do just that, using a strip of leather (or other soft backings) backing for the sandpaper and go all the way around the handle. Pull your strokes lengthwise starting from front of handle to handle butt, and then rotate the handle just a little bit when you're ready to continue sanding the area clockwise or counterclockwise to where you just hand rubbed, while the blade in a knife vise or the like in order to allow you to go all the way around it.

Once you get to a high enough grit you can just take it to buffer and get a very nice polish. :)

I apologize if I'm missing something here and this is all already too obvious to you lol.

~Paul
My YT Channel Lsubslimed
... (It's been a few years since my last upload)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top