Polishing SAK Blades

[DaveK]

I have a number of SAK blades that are scratched up really badly, too badly really to be used in mods, which is a shame.

I've tried polishing them up with a number of attachments on a proxxon (dremmel), with varying results, but not really ever having got close to the original finish that I want.

Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[matt]

I have never really tried to polish the blades,but why not try some really fine sand paper for a brushed finish.It would hide scratches,look custom and be easy to touch up.just a thought.I really don't know how to duplicate the factory finish.

[jzmtl]

The original finish looks more like fine stone washed/walnut shell tumbled instead of mirror polished to me.

[Poncho65]

  Yeah I guess very fine sandpaper sounds like the best idea to hide the scratches

Then maybe a buffing compound and then use the Proxxon to buff  with Don't even know if they have a buffing wheel though

[Sea Monster]

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Manufacturing/Industry/Product-Catalog/Online-Catalog/?PC_7_RJH9U5230GE3E02LECFTDQGLE0_nid=BNMBK2PD4JbeH55CPWS904gl

http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/mediawebserver?66666UuZjcFSLXTtlx&2lXMVEV76EbHSHVs6EVs6E666666--

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516R9JTh0gL._SL500_AA280_.jpg


Gives a good smooth finish - from these you can hand polish (or buff, if you're lazy and have a tool for it) to mirror.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I like to use 800- 1000 grit sandpaper, then finish up with a hand polish using a polishing compound.  If you don't have a polishing compound and don't want to get a tube for a couple of knives, try using toothpaste and you'll get the same results... plus your knife will smell minty fresh and be free of gingivitis.

Def

[DaveK]

Lol. Thanks fo rthat guys, I'll try the andpaper first I think. Then the toothpaste 

I'll let you know what happens!

[Benner]

You need to hear from Neil.  His blades are amazingly well polished and second to none.

Hopefully he'll chime in soon.

[AndyTiedye]

The original finish looks more like fine stone washed/walnut shell tumbled instead of mirror polished to me.

Looks like a mirror finish to me:


(Note the image of the tree above reflected in the blade).

[Neil]

You need to hear from Neil.  His blades are amazingly well polished and second to none.

Hopefully he'll chime in soon.

   OK Ben, what are you after

My honest advice, unless its a blade on a rare SAK, don't bother.  Yes I have and still do take beatup SAK blades to a mirror finish but it takes so long.

I start with 600 grit paper (UK scale) and lay it on a flat surface and rub the blade along, always in the same direction.  After that I check to see if there are any really deep marks that are going to mean starting the process back at 400 or even 320.
If all is well I then move to 800 grit and repeat, this time rubbing the blade in the opposite direction until I can see none of the marks left by the 600 grit paper.  You keep doing this up to 1200 or even 1500 depending on the final look you want.  At this stage you can either buff or hand polish with something like Brasso.  For that ultimate shine, after the Brasso clean up and finish off with a very mildly abrasive quality car polish then hand buff like you would your car.

There are probably mechanical short cuts and I do experiment from time to time.  The problem with using the little polishing wheels on dremels and the like is that its tricky to get a truly uniform polish across the blade, worst still its all to easy to slip and just catch the collet on the blade (that might just be me ) and suddenly you're back at stage one.

On a slightly more cheery note, often a vintage SAK looks best showing some of its age. You can polish up the blade with just high grit paper and then move straight to polishing.  This gives you a nice (IMO) shiny blade but one that still shows the years of previous use.

Should you find a nice quick way of getting to a mirror finish I'll certainly be all ears 

Neil

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Now post a pic of you Pioneer

[Benner]

You need to hear from Neil.  His blades are amazingly well polished and second to none.

Hopefully he'll chime in soon.

   OK Ben, what are you after

My honest advice, unless its a blade on a rare SAK, don't bother.  Yes I have and still do take beatup SAK blades to a mirror finish but it takes so long.

I start with 600 grit paper (UK scale) and lay it on a flat surface and rub the blade along, always in the same direction.  After that I check to see if there are any really deep marks that are going to mean starting the process back at 400 or even 320.
If all is well I then move to 800 grit and repeat, this time rubbing the blade in the opposite direction until I can see none of the marks left by the 600 grit paper.  You keep doing this up to 1200 or even 1500 depending on the final look you want.  At this stage you can either buff or hand polish with something like Brasso.  For that ultimate shine, after the Brasso clean up and finish off with a very mildly abrasive quality car polish then hand buff like you would your car.

There are probably mechanical short cuts and I do experiment from time to time.  The problem with using the little polishing wheels on dremels and the like is that its tricky to get a truly uniform polish across the blade, worst still its all to easy to slip and just catch the collet on the blade (that might just be me ) and suddenly you're back at stage one.

On a slightly more cheery note, often a vintage SAK looks best showing some of its age. You can polish up the blade with just high grit paper and then move straight to polishing.  This gives you a nice (IMO) shiny blade but one that still shows the years of previous use.

Should you find a nice quick way of getting to a mirror finish I'll certainly be all ears 

Neil

I don't want anything  , I can just recognise a great finish.

[Neil]

Now post a pic of you Pioneer

Its not technically a mirror finish on that blade though is it



More of a convexed satin finish oh I've changed my mind maybe I'll mirror it maybe I won't wait it looks quite good if I buff up the bevel but leave the rest kind of finish

Its brother the old '85 red Farmer will hopefully soon be joining it.  I'm going to do the blade the same.

Neil

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Now post a pic of you Pioneer

Its not technically a mirror finish on that blade though is it

(Image removed from quote.)

More of a convexed satin finish oh I've changed my mind maybe I'll mirror it maybe I won't wait it looks quite good if I buff up the bevel but leave the rest kind of finish

Its brother the old '85 red Farmer will hopefully soon be joining it.  I'm going to do the blade the same.

Neil

No but it looks all the better for having such a conflicting finish

[Benner]

Now post a pic of you Pioneer

Its not technically a mirror finish on that blade though is it

(Image removed from quote.)

More of a convexed satin finish oh I've changed my mind maybe I'll mirror it maybe I won't wait it looks quite good if I buff up the bevel but leave the rest kind of finish

Its brother the old '85 red Farmer will hopefully soon be joining it.  I'm going to do the blade the same.

Neil

That's good of you to polish up my year of birth Farmer before sending it to me Neil. 

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Er I'm the Farmer afficinado, it's heading my way

[DaveK]

Neil - thanks for that, you describe the problem with the small polishing wheel perfectly.

I tried with a bit of 1000 grit wet and dry paper (that's all I had to hand), before finishing with a small, very soft polishing wheel, and whilst not perfect, it's good enough for the one I wanted just now. This one was really badly scratched up, but looks decent enough now.

Thanks for the pointers.

[jzmtl]

The original finish looks more like fine stone washed/walnut shell tumbled instead of mirror polished to me.

Looks like a mirror finish to me:
(Image removed from quote.)

(Note the image of the tree above reflected in the blade).

If you look really really close you can see the reflection is kinda hazy, and there are fine scratches and bumps. It's more pronounced on my spirit than SAK. I duno, it's just different from a true mirror polished surface.