After wiping out the grind lines on some of my earlier knives by the over-zealous use of a buffer, I began to explore alternative methods of finishing the blades.

Since I hollow grind most of my blades, the techniques for hand rubbing seemed difficult to implement, so I started trying to come up with alternative methods. I devised something in the way of a sanding block made from some scrap 1" thick stuff that would be canvas micarta if it were phenolic based, but it seems to be a rubber matrix that holds the layers of fabric together. It's about as hard as a hockey puck. I cut it with a 4" radius to correspond to the hollow grind from my 8" contact wheel, and to a 5" radius for the 10" wheel. Wrapping 1" strips of wet-or-dry paper around the curved edge gives me a sanding black that I can use to get a hand rubbed finish on a hollow ground blade.

I would be interested in any techniques any of you folks might have found to accomplish the same end.

Don, how hard is a hockey puck? :) Remember I'm from East
Texas. The way I get a hand rub finish on the hollow grind is I use the contact wheel on my grinder. I put on a new belt and after each pass I rotate the wheel around a little to keep the grit fresh. Pull the blade across and rotate a little more. By the time I get back to where I start out on the belt its time to change over to a finer grit. I work all the way up to 600 grit, then finish off with a little semi chrome polish.

I use similar metodes. I have cut a piece of 2" thick nylon to the a 5" inch radious. I have left the edges pretty square to be able to get into those plungecuts. Its about 5" long and 2.5" high in the middle. that leaves lots of material to grab.

I clamp my blades onto a piece of 1" angel iron about 15" long with a visegrip. The angeliron is put in the vise. Very steady setup.

For the hollows, I use a small block of 3/4" micarta that I radiused to 8". I also use a soft strip of leather that I back the sand paper strip to. It allows me to reach those hard to get areas. For the flats, I use a 6" stip of micarta with leather glued to it and use that as backing on the paper strips. The pliability of the leather allows me to dig in a bit when I find a deep scratch.

Of course, one of these days, Steve is going to teach me how to mirror polish and make them putry knives...

I use a rubber "finger" to hand sand.
1" x 1/2" x 5" with a radius ground on one side. Hard rubber will blend without rounding the cutting lines off.
I sometimes use a leather backed block for contour sanding (handles and such) where grind lines should not be seen.
I use sheet metal strips (titanium) to sand solder joints. The corners leave sharp clean finishes in the joint. Very little sanding actually done with fingers. :)