Mirror polish question

[North Man]

Hi

I have a Huntsman from around very early 80s,, on a Champion from very late 70s it has almost the same mirror polish that is today on knives, it is very good, however the blade on the Huntsman i mentioned has a higher polish, looks extra mirrorish,  i would perhaps expect this to be on older knives, i can not take a picture it was almost impossible , will have to wait for daylight to try, the polish is higher on the blade than the other functions including the little blade. There is a few scratches that is done by people, it probarbly has never seen use. I found this interesting not sure anybody have any information on this, the tang stamp is the usual for the time periode, Officiers Suisse crossbow.

[North Man]

Trying to take a photo of the polish can be to much for my camera, i managed to get this, atleast you can see the blade, there is another detail at the end of edge at the tang, maybe to picture perfect this atleast 200 lumens from a flashlight did not make the job easier.

[North Man]

I took another picture today, it is the best my camera can do, so just take my word for it is is more finer. The blade is also a very little less wide across the blade at the nailnick..I am pretty sure its is the factory edge.

[North Man]

In the process i tryed to picture the blade , here is some more, it should be a very early 80s, if not let me know

[J-sews]

I do not know if this helps, but a more mirror-like finish cannot happen by accident. Nor can it happen simply by polishing for a longer length of time. It can only happen by deliberately taking extra steps in the polishing process.

The blade would have to be completely polished with a certain grade of abrasive compound. Then a finer grade would be applied, and the blade completely polished again, etc. Until the desired finish is achieved.

[HawkeyX]

Perhaps it marks a period when tooling was changed/worn/updated at the factory, or them trying something different?

[North Man]

Hi

Yes i believe so to, must have been an extra step in production, 

[alelser]

My guess is someone with some metal smithing or even knife making skills had this knife and polished the blade after reprofiling it, probably because it had a chipped edge from use. I assume the odds of a reprofiled and re-polished blade in non-standard formats coming out of the Vic factory are slim to none.

[stressmaster5000]

Nah! I will tell you what happened, the guy manning the polishing station was "daydreaming" and forgot he already had polished the blade and went ahead and did it again. 

Insert your excuse in the glow area. 

[North Man]

My guess is someone with some metal smithing or even knife making skills had this knife and polished the blade after reprofiling it, probably because it had a chipped edge from use. I assume the odds of a reprofiled and re-polished blade in non-standard formats coming out of the Vic factory are slim to none.

I have no answer, the little info i was told was that it had been stored from new and never used, to bad there was no box oh no we will never know
Maybe the blade has been reprofiled, i looked on the SAK and 0 sign of use elsewhere, ? Would be fun to know and have an answer, anyhow its is a lovely SAK.

[North Man]

Nah! I will tell you what happened, the guy manning the polishing station was "daydreaming" and forgot he already had polished the blade and went ahead and did it again. 

Insert your excuse in the glow area. 

Maybe a daydream yes Or somebody out there is having a good laugh on me 

[North Man]

ooh, papercut test, it is sharp!!, yeah it is a SAK record!

[ICanFixThat]

I meant to reply earlier.  I'm sure it's an extra step they did at one time.  If you look at the automobile (Motorist) you see that they specifically advertised a high-polish version.  If you look at some of their early gentleman and luxury knives you will see they have a higher polish than many others at the time.  I think I noted in one message about another Cellidor knife with a high polish uncharacteristic of the time.

I would ask Victorinox, but I suspect they did not have their current polishing system yet or it was not perfected.  The current one is VERY efficient and does a very good job.  I suspect the polishing was much harder in the past.  I think when I commented on the polish in another message I said it rivaled the existing knives, which again indicates it was a separate process. If it look more like a mirror then a shinny SAK I'd say it's one that got some special treatment.

[North Man]

I meant to reply earlier.  I'm sure it's an extra step they did at one time.  If you look at the automobile (Motorist) you see that they specifically advertised a high-polish version.  If you look at some of their early gentleman and luxury knives you will see they have a higher polish than many others at the time.  I think I noted in one message about another Cellidor knife with a high polish uncharacteristic of the time.

I would ask Victorinox, but I suspect they did not have their current polishing system yet or it was not perfected.  The current one is VERY efficient and does a very good job.  I suspect the polishing was much harder in the past.  I think when I commented on the polish in another message I said it rivaled the existing knives, which again indicates it was a separate process. If it look more like a mirror then a shinny SAK I'd say it's one that got some special treatment.

Hi

Huge thank you, superb info
This was mentioned one time so now i remember,

[alelser]

Great information!