Been wanting to try this for a while and finally got the chance tonight.
I've already stripped the crappy black coating from my Cold Steel American Lawman, but it was on there a lot better than I was led to believe (apparently, they've upgraded the coating they use and the modern-day Cold Steel knives are a B!+$# to get that stuff off). So I ended up sanding and scraping on my blade, lock-bar, and pocket clip which left it looking bad. Didn't matter too much since this is a user, but I still wanted to pretty it up a bit and I needed a crash test dummy for my project.
So I watched a Youtube video and read a How-To on Blade Forums on how to stone-wash your own blade, so I figured I'd give it a shot. You basically take the knife apart, and put the parts you want stone-washed into a water-proof container (I used a large pill bottle) with some rocks you found outside, some soap, and water and wrap/duck-tape it in a towel and throw it in the dryer with some clothes you happen to be drying and when it's done - viola! Home-grown stone washing.
Do not do this with screws/intricate-fitting hardware, and be prepared to sharpen the knife once you're done (it dulls the crap out of it - I tried using finger nail polish on the edge, but it came right off). Tape off the area around the pivot where the washers contact the tang as well (or prepare for the action on your folder to get a lot rougher).
Here it is after I stripped it (don't have great pics, but you can see it's been sanded on):
And here it is after my Ghetto-Stonewashing attempt (It could probably use another load, but I wasn't really that worried about pretty):
All said and done, I'm pretty happy with it - the camera picks up a lot more scratches from sanding than you can see in person. I'd like to do the pocket-clip for about another 30 mins, but the lock-bar and blade turned out pretty well. I'm thinking of picking up a tumbler so I can do this more often. I hate black-coated blades except where they're needed in specific applications (i.e. not my EDC), and I'm not crazy about black pocket-clips either.
If I get brave enough, I'll take apart my ZT 0780 and do the liners, blade, and pocket-clip.
I've already stripped the crappy black coating from my Cold Steel American Lawman, but it was on there a lot better than I was led to believe (apparently, they've upgraded the coating they use and the modern-day Cold Steel knives are a B!+$# to get that stuff off). So I ended up sanding and scraping on my blade, lock-bar, and pocket clip which left it looking bad. Didn't matter too much since this is a user, but I still wanted to pretty it up a bit and I needed a crash test dummy for my project.
So I watched a Youtube video and read a How-To on Blade Forums on how to stone-wash your own blade, so I figured I'd give it a shot. You basically take the knife apart, and put the parts you want stone-washed into a water-proof container (I used a large pill bottle) with some rocks you found outside, some soap, and water and wrap/duck-tape it in a towel and throw it in the dryer with some clothes you happen to be drying and when it's done - viola! Home-grown stone washing.
Do not do this with screws/intricate-fitting hardware, and be prepared to sharpen the knife once you're done (it dulls the crap out of it - I tried using finger nail polish on the edge, but it came right off). Tape off the area around the pivot where the washers contact the tang as well (or prepare for the action on your folder to get a lot rougher).
Here it is after I stripped it (don't have great pics, but you can see it's been sanded on):
And here it is after my Ghetto-Stonewashing attempt (It could probably use another load, but I wasn't really that worried about pretty):
All said and done, I'm pretty happy with it - the camera picks up a lot more scratches from sanding than you can see in person. I'd like to do the pocket-clip for about another 30 mins, but the lock-bar and blade turned out pretty well. I'm thinking of picking up a tumbler so I can do this more often. I hate black-coated blades except where they're needed in specific applications (i.e. not my EDC), and I'm not crazy about black pocket-clips either.
If I get brave enough, I'll take apart my ZT 0780 and do the liners, blade, and pocket-clip.
