Descaling The Scales

[grover26]

Hello....New member. First post, so please forgive me if I'm in the wrong place on the forum, or this topic has been previously covered. I recently acquired a used Sisschamp  with white scales. The knife appears to have little, if any, actual use. The scales, however, are a different story; nicked and scratched from carrying. I'm thinking about wet sanding the scales with 600 - 1200 paper to clean them up. I assume the color goes all the way through and they can be re-buffed after sanding. Has anyone tried this, or any other means, with any success?

[GoatDragon]

Hello, and welcome to MTO!

You are correct in assuming the scale color goes all the way through. They can be removed and replaced as well if you so choose. eBay is one source for replacement scales, but there are better sources and I am sure someone else will be along shortly with a link to them. If you go that route you can make it any color you choose!

Sanding it and buffing it would save you a few bucks, and I while have never personally done it, it should work! (I mean you probably did get a used SAK to save money, dropping another ~$10 for new scales kinda defeats the purpose, right?)

[MacGyver]

Hello, welcome to   

You're definitely in the right place. There are probably some more in depth posts on scale care and polish. I'm sure the more experienced members will give you some nice tips and tricks on it.

From my little experience in polishing cellidor scales (only 3 or 4 times) i used some kind of scratch remover/polisher for acrylic/plexiglas and it worked very well. It took very little material off and the end result was a nice "hand polished" look, not new mirror shine, but rather nicely worn polish smooth look and feel 

And yes, the color on the white scales (and on all solid colors) are solid all the way through   

[AimlessWanderer]

Welcome to the forum 

Yes, you can get them all nice and shiny again. Be sure to do I all by hand with gradually finer abrasives. DON'T use power tools to buff them up, the heat will damage the scales. Just take your time with fine paper and polishing media. There are other threads somewhere which give examples of what you might use, but work with whatever you have got, and shout if you get stuck 

[jaya_man]

Welcome to MTO...

Here's a few vids which are helpful:










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[pfrsantos]

Welcome!

 

Let us know how it worked.
 

[ColoSwiss]

Welcome aboard!   

Done some minor scale touch-up with toothpaste and a soft cloth. Won't remove major scratches, but does improve the looks a bit.

[strmliner]

Welcome!

You're in the right place and there is quite a bit of info about cleaning up old scales. Take some time, use the search function, and check out the threads in The Mod Squad.

I've done many scale clean-ups and the progressive increase using 600-1400 sandpaper followed by a automotive rubbing compound then polishing compound will do the trick.

When you get finished, don't be bashful...show us your work (better yet, show us the before and after)...pictures are worth a lot around here.

Good luck and have fun...   

[grover26]

Hello, and welcome to MTO!

You are correct in assuming the scale color goes all the way through. They can be removed and replaced as well if you so choose. eBay is one source for replacement scales, but there are better sources and I am sure someone else will be along shortly with a link to them. If you go that route you can make it any color you choose!

Sanding it and buffing it would save you a few bucks, and I while have never personally done it, it should work! (I mean you probably did get a used SAK to save money, dropping another ~$10 for new scales kinda defeats the purpose, right?)

Thank you for the welcome....And yeah, call me Mr. Frugal (wife says cheap). I's just an EDC that I'd like to make look a little better.

[grover26]

Hello, and welcome to MTO!

You are correct in assuming the scale color goes all the way through. They can be removed and replaced as well if you so choose. eBay is one source for replacement scales, but there are better sources and I am sure someone else will be along shortly with a link to them. If you go that route you can make it any color you choose!

Sanding it and buffing it would save you a few bucks, and I while have never personally done it, it should work! (I mean you probably did get a used SAK to save money, dropping another ~$10 for new scales kinda defeats the purpose, right?)

[WoodsDuck]

After working your way up through the fine grit sandpapers, you can finish the job off with some wadding polish like Nevr-Dull to get a pretty nice shine.