Stone washed finish?

DBAR

DBAR

Well-Known Member
I'm thinking about doing a Stone Washed finish on my 3rd knife, but before I do it, I have a question.

Do you guys hand sand the bevel on your knife before etching? I hear some will take the bevel up to 400 grit before etching, and tumbling, but is it advisable to leave the bevel belt finished? I've hand sanded my flats up to 600, and I've taken my bevel up to the equivalent of 400 with a Gator belt. I was thinking I'm either going to finish off with a scotch brite belt, or I'm going to Stone Wash it.


Thanks for the advice,

Don
 
I have left a machine finish before etching with decent results. I would take everything to at least 400 if not 600 if you can. The etching/stonewashing will amplify any errant scratches rather than cover them up. I would advise using the sharpie trick to make sure you have out all the scratches(I use a sharpie to black out the bevel every time I switch grits).

Good luck,
Chris
 
"Stone Wash" isn't a short cut....you still need to go to the same fine finish you would if you were not going to stone wash. As Chris said....it won't clean up any scratches....just show them more. :)
 
CAJones said:
I have left a machine finish before etching with decent results. I would take everything to at least 400 if not 600 if you can. The etching/stonewashing will amplify any errant scratches rather than cover them up. I would advise using the sharpie trick to make sure you have out all the scratches(I use a sharpie to black out the bevel every time I switch grits).

Good luck,
Chris
Click to expand...


That's the kind of info I was looking for. I completely hear you on the "remove all scratches" step. I learned that one the hard way on a knife was making, but ended up loosing out on. Now I'm very meticulous about scratch lines. I guess that's why I asked the question I asked. I just wanted to make sure that no scratch lines would end up showing through the etch process.

I'm probably going to take it to 600 if I am indeed going the stone wash route. I'm going to test the stone wash process on one of the blades that I recently sacrificed.


Don
 
Its sort of the same story with Scotchbrite finishes. The belts won't hide lower grit scratches.

I go to an even 120 with a ceramic then a 220 grit then I start with the brown, Purple, blue & grey of the Scotchbrite belts. It leaves a nice brush satin finish for culinary or hunters.
 
ill take the whole blade up to 800 or 1000 before i etch. the last couple i did, i went to a mirror polish before etch. in fact the last ones i did not stone wash, i cold blued them and hit them with 0000 steel wool. they looked too nice to stone wash. the etch can bring out the imperfections..
 
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