Hi! It's been a while since I've been on. Tons of school... crazy stuff 🙂 Great to be back on... I hope you all had an awesome Christmas and New Year!!
I have a question that I am sure has been asked a million times, but that I can't seem to find an exact answer for. I just forged a gurkha kukri, ground it, and just normalized it. It has a very similar shape to the Cold Steel gurkha kukri. Anyway, I usually take my blades to a nice satin finish with a belt sander, and just leave it like that, but I really feel the need to get into hand sanding. With that being said, I have a question: Does a belt sanded blade cut deeper/slice smoother than a belt sanded blade? Think cutting edge going through material, parallel to the 'grain' of the finish... wouldn't in theory, a belt sanded blade cut cleaner? What is the minimum finish that should be applied to a hard working kukri if I'm hand sanding it... I'm looking for maximum cutting power. Perhaps I should belt sand the kukri, or would hand sanding work alright?
Thanks a lot! I really appreciate the responses. This is the one place I know I get accurate, and clear answers. Thanks in advance.
Joseph
beckerforged.com
Joseph,
While power is affected by the design of the knife and the muscle behind the cut, I think it is more a case of lessening the drag. It seems logical that either a very smooth blade or scratches in line with the cut would lessen drag, I also think it depends on the medium being cut. The variables are significant. Either way, it would be hard to measure the difference unless you had a very controlled test situation.
As far as hand sanding is concerned, you might make a smaller blade or blades and practice getting them sanded nicely before tackling such a large blade as a Kukri. That is just a suggestion.
I do understand your question bit I believe at that level the resistance that would affect the cutting would be extremely minimal. If you were to leave it at 36 or 80 grit I could see it maybe affecting the cutting but when you take it to 400 grit plus I do not see there being much resistance. It would be just the same as sharpening with the belt (scratches being inline with the thing being cut) and sharpening with a stone (the scratches being parallel with the thing being cut). I don’t think you will ever see any difference.
