After a few requests, I have tried to do a tutorial on stripping and polishing combat knives. First, remove the scales, if possible. The Boss Hog told me that on Busses, drill out the gromets with a 1/4" bit and then send the knife to Busse and they will re-attach the scales. On this model, a Ranger RD-6, the scales were easy to remove with a bit driver. On Scrap Yard Knives, just try to keep the stripper off the handle. Don't worry, it won't hurt it.

Get the paint stripper and all neeeded tools ready.







Be carefull with the stripper, keep a garden hose at the ready to wash it off your hands if you feel a burning sensation! After a few minutes the paint will bubble up like this:

After it bubbles and loosens, wash off the paint with a garden hose. You can use plastic scrapers or wire brushes to remove more stubborn paint. It may take two applications to get it all. Look how unfinished and rough the spine is.

This will take some work on the belt sander. I started with ordinary 80 grit, just to get the steel off.
As you can see, the stripper has discolored the blade.

Cleaning up this choil will take some work with the Dremel tool.

The Scotchbrite wheels easily remove the discoloration in just a few minutes of work.

I'll use this sanding drum on the Dremel tool to clean up the choil as best I can. Be sure to wear eye protection. The Dremel throws some serious sparks!


This one very bad area may just have to remain. Those are some deep tool marks.

The rough spine is coming along. Time to switch to a finer 80u finishing belt.

After getting the spine and tang edges smoothed out some with the belt sander and Dremel, time to put the scales back on so I can sand them flush with the tang.

After sanding flush, I put the Scotchbrite wheels to it. It is coming along nicely.

good going Reverend, I'm glued! That's the older model RD6, I have an older RD7 but satin. Yours is gonna look shweeeet!

I was battoning the other day with it, 5" log and was whacking around the front of the G-10 scales and after, I noticed they had shifted some, I was surprised (but no damage or even a scratch!). But like you said their easy to remove or loosen.

The back of the handle looks pretty good to me and feels smooooth!

The bottom is not quite as good, but I can live with it.

The tang extension came out pretty good considering the complex shape.


FINI.

Horn-Angelo-Dog! the 3rd world sculptor <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> Great job and thanks for the toot!

Now I'm going to have to go out and get some scotch brite pads for my grinder.

Thank you, WD. I gotta go clean up my mess and start Sunday dinner for da yoots.
Here are some final "poses" along side the beautiful Busse Steel Heart. Can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear. In many cases it is cheaper and easier just to go ahead and buy a finished knife, but I already had this RD sitting around being ugly.

Is there such thing as the "Third World Chopathon" or it that bld522 special?

Anyways thank you Viking Vic, very informative.

Awesome tutorial HD.

I use more or less the same method. I have been using sanding belts and Dremel. I need to get some Scotchbrite wheels.

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Worth mentioning:

1) Use that stripper with GOOD ventilation. The gel formula slows down the evaporation and fumes. So, it is not as noticable. But, those are some seriously dangerous fumes. No telling what type of brain damage or cancer can be caused by that stuff (?????)

2) I have heard that micarta dust is very dangerous if inhaled. I assume something to do with the resin and/or epoxy. Use a dust mask to be sure.

3) You should be very careful to not over-heat the blade with sanders, Dremels and especially grinders. The friction created by grinding can quickly and easily create enought heat to mess up the blade tempering. Dremels and especially grinders create excessive heat very fast. I would never use a grinder - too hard to control the heat. A Bench grinder will make steel glow red in seconds! But, even heavy hard use of a Dremel can build up too much heat. Use Dremel and belt sanders lightly and slowly. I assume the Scotchbrite wheels don't create too much heat very fast (????).

4) I second leaving the scales on a Rat. The stripper does not hurt the handles. And I have heard it helps to leave the coating on under the scales to prevent rust. Once stripped on the visible blade, you can't see the coating under the scales anyway. I assume you could leave the scales on a Busse just as well. I never removed the scales on my SJTAC when I stripped it. It looks fine.

The problem is that it is much harder to sand and finish a blade around the scales especially at the blade side of the guard. But, the extra effort is probably about a wash compared to drilling out the gromets, shipping the knife, paying for shipping and waiting "two weeks" for it to be shipped back. (??????)

*** Everyone should probably be fore-warned that the Busse family of blades tend to be fairly rough under the coatings. The rough parts are usually on the flat parts of the blade. The primary blade grinds are usually pretty decent. The flat areas take a fair amount of sanding to get smooth - if that is your goal.

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