Question on Sanding down tang

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ms4awd

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Can anyone give advice on how to go about sanding down the tang of a handle to make it flush with the wood scales? I have a nenox whose tang is ever so slightly raised on the top of the handle on one side only. Can i just sand it down manually by hand? what grit should i use? and how do i finish it so it will be back to the same finish as before. Its a quince wood handle. The wood didnt shrink i think from the factory the tang was a bit off on one side wasnt ground flush completely. Doesnt really affect holding the knife its more of an annoyance i would like to resolve more than anything. thanks
 
I'd recommend covering the scales with some thick sort of masking tape and going at the tang with a low grit and work up to the grit that makes the finish match the rest of the knife. You can polish it out with mud from a 5000+ stone when you are done as well. Good luck, make sure you cover the entire scales so no mistakes mess up your nice handle!
 
You'll need some sort of block, so you don't sand down any wood. Start aggressively and work up to maybe 800 grit...
 
Depending on the HT on the tang a fresh file might be easier and faster to knock it down then polish to match.
 
If I may interject. Rather then sanding down the tang. How about oiling the wood handle so it re hydrates the wood.. which should allow it to swell a bit and problem solved.

Then if this does not work. try the sanding approach.


God Bless
Randy
 
If I may interject. Rather then sanding down the tang. How about oiling the wood handle so it re hydrates the wood.. which should allow it to swell a bit and problem solved.

Then if this does not work. try the sanding approach.

Yes i have been applying oil every few days for the past 10 days or so. After 2 or 3 days the scales start looking dry again, were you referring to soaking the handle in oil? ive been using camelia/tsubaki oil. Im not quite sure if its the wood scales or the knife just needs to be finished better.
 
I would try soaking it in mineral oil 1st, it doesn't have to be Camelia/Tsubaki. If this doesn't help, you could always coat it and sand it (would be a long process) with Tru-Oil, sanding in between applications until the finish meets the height of the tang.
 
Hmm...I guess it may be prudent to try oil first, before altering an expensive knife forever, but my brain tells me that a shrinkage of just .5mm in a wood handle X 20mm wide x 300mm around = a lot of volume to make up for; not sure if wood can even sustain-ably hold that much extra oil? Now, I know Tru-Oil builds up on the surface, so maybe that's different. I personally don't like the finish for handles; I'm more of a naturalist; high grit polish; oil; wax....
 
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