Cleaning up the fuller

After the fuller has been scraped to shape it will need to be polished. The first step in this process is to use a polishing stone. I use red brick EDM polishing stones from MSC. These stones are handy and come in a wide range of grits. I started the clean up with 220 grit. The stones are friable and will break in easily to conform to the shape of the fuller. I had to work the edges of the stone until it fit. These stones are meant to be used wet and I keep mine soaking in distilled water with a touch of Cool Tool to help keep them from loading. I have separate containers for each grit to keep down the contamination. After all the scratches are removed from the scraper, I move up to the 320 grit stone and finally 600 grit.

The next stage is to switch to sandpaper. I wrap the paper around any suitable shape and sand out the scratches from the stones.

The final polish is done with diamond paste on a piece of hardwood shaped to the groove. This stage will show up any scratches that were missed and you will invariably have to go back a grit or two to pick them up, then return back to the paste.

Fullers are traditional and add a nice option to the blade. They are easily done and don't require any expensive tooling. To see this blade finished go to Chung Kuo