Finishing a Bolstered EDC- Beginner's Guide

[gables]

This Christmas order will be a stainless everyday carry blade. The 154cm blade has been rough ground and drilled. The handles will be black linen micarta with red G10 liners. All of the hardware is stainless. It will have stainless front bolsters and a simple black sheath.

 
All components have to be made square and true. The edge of two stainless and red accent spacers are being milled flat and parallel.

 
Double sided tape is very handy in the shop. Here I make a tab to hold small pieces for sanding.

 
All mating surfaces are flat and clean. I just completed drilling the right side bolster that will be epoxied and pinned in place.

 
After a couple hours of work all the components are rough fit. The large fin behind the bolster is the stainless and red accent spacer. Thin stock has to be made much larger than finished size and slowly worked to final dimension. I had to get the top of the bolsters and spine of the blade sanded even and flat for the next step of notching finger grooves and heat treat.

[Jack Guard]

Pretty Neat.  

Looking forward to seeing more.

[amar911]

Thanks. This is fun -- and really easy for me! After all, I'm just sitting on my butt. You're doing all the hard work.

Allan

[gables]

Before heat treating I use my carbide faced filing jig to keep my finger grooves perpendicular to the blade. I used a 20tpi checkering file to make the grooves. Short strokes work best until the file bottoms out.

       
My first step after heat treating is to remove the scale and make the flats smooth and parallel. You can see the scale and discoloration caused from heat treating that is still on the bevels.

       
The edge thickness was left around .045" prior to heat treating. You can also see the hole I misdrilled in the blade for the bolsters. Luckily this only affected the blade and neither of the bolsters. I used 80 and 120 grit zirconia belts on my vertical platten to work the bevels down to .025" before moving to my leather platten for final blending. I use A100 and A45 grit Trizact belts for final polishing. In this photo I have used the a100 belt. I use the A100 belt to also remove the surface grinder marks on the ricasso area that will be visible in front of the bolsters.

       
The leather platten is seen at the top of this photo. I got the idea to do a platten like this from   Steve Culver\\'s  web site. I made the platten from angle iron and a flat piece of 1/4" tool steel that the leather is glued to. I tapped a hole in my platten assembly and am able to loosen the cap screw and drop the platten out of the way. I use this platten for belt finished knives and when I convex the edge in the next step.

[gables]

I use a 220 grit belt and the area just below my leather platten to convex the edge. I am running the grinder slowly and often dipping in water. After the 220 belt I switch to an A45 Trizact belt to blend the convex and further refine the edge.

 
Following the A45 Trizact belt, I use a cardboard wheel with white compound to polish the edge and remove the bur. The final step is to hand strop the blade. I use Simichrome polish as a stropping compound. I apply a thin film to the strop and let it dry. I believe this is similar to a pink scratchless compound. I next test the blade for shaving sharp and then whack on some oak and cut rope with it.

 
I use an electric etcher to apply my mark. After etching I use the A45 trizact belt to clean up the etched logo.

 
I sand the backs of the bolsters flat and then I use temporary pins to hold them for shaping. I still use my Craftsman 2x42 grinder for some grinding tasks.

 
I have used 120 grit paper on a leather backed file to further shape and polish the bolsters. Even though there will be further grinding after the bolsters are peened, I sand as much as I can at this point to minimize the potential for grinding issues.

[gables]

I use a 4" muslin polishing wheel in my drill press with green chrome polish to polish the bolsters after sanding them to 600 grit.

     
All parts have been cleaned with acetone and 99% isopropyl alcohol. The extra holes drilled in the handle for balance are used as a guide to dimple the inside faces of the handle material for increased glue adhesion. I use Loctitie's E120 HP epoxy after reading this  Glue Wars thread .

     
The knife is glued up and will sit for about 24 hours while the aircraft grade epoxy cures. I got the idea for the modified bar clamp from Joe Keeslar's   Handles and Guards book.