So I'm in the process of making my first two knives.  While sanding the first side of the handle, the only one epoxied on, I got sanding marks on the blade.  How, or can they, be removed?  Help!

-Jeremy     :confused:

Question
you said you only have 1 side on, is your knife full tang? Did you match your scales on the front?
Most guys use masking tape on the blade when they finsh sanding
I have always put both sides on and the pins through the handle. Before I start sanding on the handle
take some sandpaper and start at the handle and sand to the tip, get as close as you can
hope this helps
Dana

Arghhh!  I knew I should've asked first.  Yes the blades are full tang.  I epoxied one side, was going to drill and then epoxy the other side.  As I epoxied the other side I was going to pin it.  I guess I got ahead of myself and started sanding too soon.  Well, I still have marks on the blade.  Can they be removed?

-Jeremy  

How deep are the scratches?

They're not too deep.  They came from 120 grit sandpaper, from a bench sander.

-Jeremy  

Jeremy
you might be better off taking the one side off and starting over. You can boil some water and soak the handle for about 15-20 min. That should make the epoxy soft. Then see if you can pop it off
With 120 grit  marks it will take some hand work. Depending on the finsh you want
let us know how it goes and let us see it when you finsh with it
Dana

Thanks for the advice Dana.  When you say "hand work" can you elaborate.  I googled "how to remove scratches from metal" and read to try an autobody store and pick up some compounds and sandpaper.  Any thoughts?  Thanks for the advice.

-Jeremy  

Jeremy
after you have done you heat treating and tempering,  you can sand it on the belt sander to get your cutting edge. You need the wet/dry sandpaper it's black.  You can start with the grit that you stopped with, say 120-220 on the beltsander, then take your next grit and sand the other way until all the marks are gone, then go to the next grit and go the other way until they are gone, do this until you get the finsh you want. I use wd40 when sanding
hope this helps
Dana

I suppose it does Dana.  I guess it would make more sense if I made the blades      I got these two blades in a trade.  I'm just trying to put handles on them.  I'll try the sanding and see what happens.  Thanks for you time.

-Jeremy