Finishing a blade

J

j elky

Member
Hi All,

What are your last couple steps before you send off a new knife? In other words, how do you do your final cleaning of the blade? Windex, alcohol, renaissance wax?

thanks....Jeff
 
My last step is to give it a good heavy coat of Meguiar's Carnuba Plus Premium Wax. Really cleans the blade well and offers a little corrosion protection.
 
I finish polish (usually 8000 grit) ,then acetone wipe to remove residue, then Mothers caranauba wax to protect.
 
Interesting....anytime I've tried that with scales attached, I end up with very small scratches where the scales meet the blade.
 
j elky said:
Interesting....anytime I've tried that with scales attached, I end up with very small scratches where the scales meet the blade.
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I use a Foredom rotary tool with a hard felt wheel. The abrasive is diamond paste. I can snug right up against the scale and (with practice) get a pretty good shine on the blade and not on the scale.
 
If the knife is etched in any way (Damascus, San-Mai etc) then it is coated with Gun Kote so all I do is wipe it clean and send it off. If the blade is bare steel I apply a coat or two of bowling ally wax. Now a days most of my knives have flat clear Gun Kote finish. I just prefer it that way.
 
The final clean up is accomplished..... When the knife is completed....totally, just prior to packaging it up for shipping I carefully go over the entire knife, under a lighted magnifier, and using tools such as a sharpened brass rod (3/32" dia or smaller), an old toothbrush, Q-tips, and acetone, I clean ANY dirt, specks, etc. As my eyes get older, I find that sometimes these days, I have missed a minor scratch or swirl mark here or there....and when I find those, it's not uncommon for me to pull out the sandpaper/sanding stick and do whatever it takes to fix things. IF you ever catch yourself saying "That's good enough".... then IT IS NOT! Fix it, or you will regret it later.
The last steps are, in order... sharpen the blade, then clean/wax the entire knife with a quality automotive paste wax. (I'm not a fan of RenWax or similar)
 
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Chris Railey said:
If the knife is etched in any way (Damascus, San-Mai etc) then it is coated with Gun Kote so all I do is wipe it clean and send it off. If the blade is bare steel I apply a coat or two of bowling ally wax. Now a days most of my knives have flat clear Gun Kote finish. I just prefer it that way.
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Chris - how do you apply your Gun Kote??
 
Like Ed said, Sharpened brass rod to get any wayward epoxy or gunk, rubbing alcohol, and 1500+ sandpaper to get any of the "gremlin" scratches that seem to always magically appear. Then I hit it with Renaissance Wax, wipe it down with a clean cotton rag, and send it off.

At final cleanup, I don't even touch it with my hands. Gloves!
 
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