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Ideas on sanding fiber spacers?

Last night I sort of finished this kit:

(stock pic, mine doesn't look near that good)

Sort of? Well, it was a half vast effort at the end. My belt sander is too wide to fit between the guard and pommel. Not wanting to wait until I get a 1"x30" (it's moving to the top of the fun fund list though) I did some hand sanding. 60 grit used is a shoeshine manner didn't seem to be doing anything for the spacers so I did exactly what I knew I shouldn't do and promised myself I wouldn't do: I broke out the Dremel and sanding drum.

I knew going in I was going to goof something up and I did. I left some gouge marks on the guard and pommel. I'm not terribly worried since it was my first true effort at shaping a handle and I knew the end result would not match what I had in my mind's eye due to inexperience. I used it just as a learning experience and something I can look back on. Plus it confirmed that I do enjoy working with knives.

Why did I give all that info? Because it leads me to my question: if one didn't have access to power tools or for whatever reason had a design where you were forced to hand sand those fiber spacers, what is the best way to do it? What about the fastest (not necessarily the best) way?

I fully intend to have the proper tooling in the future but I figure it's worth discussing and getting ideas for those times when you HAVE to do it by hand.

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Permalink Reply by Keith A. Howell on April 6, 2010 at 14:06

Andrew,
I shaped quite a few handles with my Dremel. For this knife what I would suggest is to draw lines on your spaces up to about 1/16 thick of what you intend for your finished size. Then sand them with your Dremel or belt sander up to those lines. That way you will minimize the amount needed for hand sanding. Then the shoe shine method works well (albeit slowly) with the knife clamped securely in a vise. I would also suggest using hard rubber sanding blocks. The wonderful thing about the spacers is they are very hard and durable. However, it also makes them tough to sand by hand. Good luck and have fun.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew P on April 8, 2010 at 9:28

Thanks, I think that's the way to go if I do another like that. I already had the pommel cranked down and the sanding started when I realized the problem. I tried to use a X-acto knife but it wasn't any better.

If there's a next time, I'll mark and trim first THEN crank it all down.

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Permalink Reply by Slade Ingram on April 16, 2010 at 21:50

I have shaped many, many handles over the years. Presently I do rehandling and refurbishing in my shop. When I'm doing a leather stack handle with spacers, I use strip emery cloth. Usually start out with 150 grit, then 220, then 400. Make a clamp where you can clamp the blade on the edge of the bench with the handle sticking out. Then you can access it pretty well. If the leather or spacers have a lot to be removed, I use a 4X36 with an 80 grit belt to get close, then put it in the clamp and use a rough file. then the paper and so on to the buffer. Knife work is a lot of fun and it can be profitable.

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KnifeMakerPermalink Reply by Henry Ramos on April 13, 2012 at 9:22

i do all my handles by hand, since im broke, and cannot afford machinary, and have no place to put it, so when i get to the spacers, just get a heavier grit sand paper, and a few hours of your day, a sanding block usually works pretty good to really grind it down, then i follow that with the shoeshine method to finish getting my final shape, i suck at making handles too, but like you i am a beginner.