Knife blade restore

[ryan t]

So I picked this knife up for $5 last week. Turns out it's a "Knives of Alaska" Bush Camp fixed blade knife. Retail is $94.99. It feel excellent in my hand and is still very sharp, but the previous owner took a grinder or something too it and it looks like ****. Anyone know a good remedy to bring the entire blade back to the same finish? I don't care if it's shiny or dull/matted, I just want it to all look uniform and be in good, sharp, working order. I've got plenty of tools at my disposal; bench grinder will multiple wheels including stone, wire and brush; benchtop sanders, etc. I just don't want to take the wrong stuff too it, I"m not real experienced with metals.

Thanks in advance.

 

[jeremy v]

If it were me I would probably start with a med-fine grit flap wheel on an angle grinder to slowly reshape everything back closer to normal. After that, what you do would depend on how sharp you want it and how much you care about how it looks. You could just keep using finer and finer grit sanding discs or paper until you reach the level of polish you want on the surface, or you could set up some sort of jig to set exact angles, it all depends on how much you care about the knife.

The key no matter what you do to it is to keep the blade cool, especially the cutting edge. If you can't press your fingers against the edge and hold them there comfortably the metal could be getting too hot. Be especially careful when sanding near the tip, because the tip of the blade will heat up much faster than any other part. Too much heat will cause you to lose hardness. If that happens the edge will dull really fast, and it will ding easily. You can turn a good knife into junk really fast if you let the blade get too hot. Everything else is pretty much aesthetics and general sharpening.

 

[nicksnothereman]

So I picked this knife up for $5 last week. Turns out it's a "Knives of Alaska" Bush Camp fixed blade knife. Retail is $94.99. It feel excellent in my hand and is still very sharp, but the previous owner took a grinder or something too it and it looks like ****. Anyone know a good remedy to bring the entire blade back to the same finish? I don't care if it's shiny or dull/matted, I just want it to all look uniform and be in good, sharp, working order. I've got plenty of tools at my disposal; bench grinder will multiple wheels including stone, wire and brush; benchtop sanders, etc. I just don't want to take the wrong stuff too it, I"m not real experienced with metals.

Thanks in advance.

If he already took a grinder to it the potential damage in doing it again might be too high (for the cutting surface at least; chips/burrs). Maybe a wet grind might be safer but a pita. You could sharpen it (normally)then just go with a brushed finish on the rest of the blade. Not everyone likes brushed finishes though.

5 bucks for a "duty" knife (one you don't mind messing up) is not bad at all if you're a knife guy.

 

[Outlawmws]

That can be made usable if not valuable. Who does that to a near $100 knife?

I'd be using a strip sander and as mentioned, keeping it cool. The hard area will be the part that us normally hollow ground. Depending on the damage, the wet grinder might be the ticket for that

 

[drivesitfar]

i'm not a knife expert, but wouldn't a grind like that have probably turned the steel blue? then once it turns blue wouldn't it be hard to keep an sharp edge on it again unless you re forged it?

 

[Outlawmws]

I took a look at the pic with brightness all the way up: It's still hard to tell, it might have already been discolored.

In any case the $5 is gone so he's got nothing to lose by trying. If it has been overheated, forging per se won't do anything, but proper quenching after a re-heat could.

 

[Mohawk Dave]

Perfect excuse to buy a right angle die grinder and roloc scotch brite pads. Start with coarse and go down. Use roloc flap disc first on edge to take off material.

Once you get the blade close you can sharpen with files then hone with diamond.

Do you want razor sharp or utility grind. I do utility grind on all my knives BC they get used ruff and tuff. I'll ruin a razor edge first day. But I'm not shaving with it. I'm cutting canvas cardboard hose wood plastic carpet whatever.

 

[shanker]

I've got a few knives of Alaska knives....mine are stainless steel with what I think is a glass beaded surface.

 

[zkling]

It doesn't look THAT bad from the pics. I've seen and fixed much worse. I use a combination of sand paper and belt sander. The important thing is that you want to maintain the crisp lines. Use a block for backing the sand paper and start on the flat area adjacent to the spine. From the looks of those pics you will probably need to start around 120G and then take it up depending on how high of a polish you want. ~400-600G is pretty good for a using knife. Those were blasted as a factory finish. You could do that as well if you wanted/had access to a blaster.

Do not use an angle grinder, flap wheels or anything else that will give and round over the edges. Well you can, but you will further damage the knife.

Then tape off that area and start working on the primary bevel. Light pressure, quick passes on the belt grinder against the platten or if you have a contact wheel. The platten will give it a flat surface, the contact wheel a concave and the slack portion of the belt a convex. They were most likely ground on a pretty good size radius wheel from the factory. I'd go with a flat grind unless you have the proper tools. Dip in water after each pass. Watch the edge and really watch the tip. You are not trying to sharpen it now, so don't bring the edge super thing.

After you get the primary bevel to your liking, then add the secondary bevel and sharpen that.

With a little bit of care and a hour or two of work you could get it looking very nice. Especially for $5.

 

[Kevin54]

I'd get a good whetstone, and just kick back and keep working it down until you get what you want. A good project to do while sitting around watching the tube in the evening.

 

[Amitygravel]

Well you could do it the right way and spend a couple of grand on a Burr-King or Bader belt grinder , a few hundred for a Baldor buffer , then a bunch more money on belts and buffing compound and it will turn out just fine.

Actually using silicon cabide abrasive paper and doing it by hand using progressively finer grit would work. It'll take a lot of work.

Or you can send it to me and I'll use my Burr-King and Baldor ,

And do it for free.
And yes ,,,
I know what I'm doing.

Get ahold of me if you want Ryan I will do it for you.

 

[Outlawmws]

Wow, generous offer Amity!

And one that should be hard to beat!

 

[WallynSC]

Take Amity's advice, best offer and advice I have seen.

 

[Amitygravel]

Hey Ryan.

Got your private message.
Sent you a couple in return.