polishing scales w/out harming the Swiss Logo

[germanshepherd]

hello from a new member. long time owner of SAK's, since the 70's.
I read tons of posts on polishing and or refinishing the scales and did a few of my knives and came out great but have a question on the swiss logo. the knives I did so far I just did the one side but not the side with the logo.
I have been using the wet sand paper and polish method. how durable is the swiss logo (have Wengers and Victorinox) as far as coming off with the sanding. will it handle some very light sanding with a very fine grit?  I want to keep the logo in place but still want to get the scales polished around the logo.
thanks

[Mechanickal]

Welcome!


I, myself use Polywatch/displex and a piece of cloth.

Most Victorinox SAK's have got a stainless inlaid logo, which is not affected by polishing the scales.

Be aware of printed/painted logo's like on economy scales, because these do come off.

Don't know about Wenger, since I own none.

[jalind]

hello from a new member. long time owner of SAK's, since the 70's.
I read tons of posts on polishing and or refinishing the scales and did a few of my knives and came out great but have a question on the swiss logo. the knives I did so far I just did the one side but not the side with the logo.
I have been using the wet sand paper and polish method. how durable is the swiss logo (have Wengers and Victorinox) as far as coming off with the sanding. will it handle some very light sanding with a very fine grit?  I want to keep the logo in place but still want to get the scales polished around the logo.
thanks

I've never sanded scales. I've only used an alloy wheel polish (for autos) and Brasso. The alloy wheel polish is a little more aggressive than the Brasso. You can also use an old military trick and put a little brasso on newsprint and rub the scales on that. The newsprint ink adds to the abrasiveness of the brasso. When I do that, I pad the table under the newsprint with a several layers of old cotton T-shirt so that it doesn't start to flatten the scales surface. With the polishing I've done, I've never worried about the Victorinox logo. the one imprint I did concern myself with recently was a Camper with the camping imprint, which doesn't seem to be as deep as the Vic logo. Sanding the scales can remove a significant amount of material. I can usually tell when they've been sanded as the edge is no longer as rounded with a visibly smaller radius. They also tend to be dead flat. If there are a few deeper pits I don't worry about them. It is, after all, a used SAK. If the scales are that bad with no aesthetic Wabi, I replace them with new ones. They're readily available for 58mm, 74mm, 91mm and 111mm. The one size that's more difficult is 84mm with the corkscrew/Phillips cutout - at least getting them with the Vic logo.


Cannot help you with Wenger as I've never polished those. I suspect at least some are heavy appliqué on the surface that's very durable to normal pocket wear, but would wear through quickly with sanding.

My thoughts on scales restoration . . . undoubtedly there will be other methods.

John

[germanshepherd]

thank you for the welcome and thank you both for the replies and tips..
bought some Vic classics with the translucent scales (TSA confiscated) on ebay and will polish them up a bit and work on the other side of my other knives and be careful around the logo.

I just love knives as you all can relate to and I drive my wife nuts with buying them but I tell her it could be worse lol. I am a huge fan of the old Buck 110's and have a nice collection of those and also have a few older scout knives but just love the SAK's and the company history etc.

[neillcurrie]

The older Wenger shields are easily affected by abrasive polishing. With the right (wrong!!) grit you can totally remove the swiss cross in seconds. THe good thing is though that underneath the paint you just removed is a solid aluminum piece..........and that can be buffed to a high shine, even though it's now a little plain looking.