A couple difficulties with an older Endura

Joined
Apr 3, 2004
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Hey guys I seem to be having a little bit of trouble with on an older Endura. I got it second hand so I'm not sure how old exactly.

I got it in pretty good condition for $20. It was about as sharp as a bowling ball and there are some scratches on the blade so it's not in pristine condition but nothing really wrong with it. A few strokes with a sharpening stick and some lube corrected the major problems with it. Black FRN handles with the Clip-It logo, ATS 55 blade. It's not a really old Endura because it has a removable steel clip and not the plastic one built into the handle. But I can't remember the last time ATS 55 was used by Spyderco hehe. Couple problems:

I reconditioned the knife when I first got it, i.e. cleaned all the gook out of it, sharpened it, polished the rust off. It's sharp enough and I think it will hold its edge well enough but for some reason AFTER being in a foam interior knife case in a cool dry closet for a week some of the rust seems to have come back.

Polished it off but I'm surprised to see it again. I'm not too familiar with ATS 55 is it prone to corrossion or something? I've had ATS 34 before and it seemed to do fine. Is ATS 55 that much different? Should I use some kind of rust inhibitor?

Also the clip naturally looks like crap; the coating is coming off slowly but surely which is not a big deal considering its age. I was hoping to know if there is a way to maybe polish it and just make it silver (which would look actually do a lot to improve the aesthetics here).

It's kind of fun to take someone's old knife and get it back into EDC-worthy shape. It hasn't been abused it was just a knife used by a non-knut for several years and he decided it was better to sell it for a quick $20 than fix it up a little. Hate to see a good Spyderco go to waste and all that :)
 
Not much you can do about the rust except keep it clean and treat with Militec-1
As far a polishing,I am becomeing a except of sorts.I just done a CF delicas clip and have done several of my others.
It is best with a Dremel.
Heres the order to do it to get best results
soak a few hours in nail polish remover
sand the paint off with 400 grit sandpaper,go ahead and sand it some even if the remover takes off all the paint.
now for the dremel
get some blue jewelers rouge.Hard blue stuff used to highly polish gold and silver.
Useing a felt polishing wheel on the dremel put a little spit or water on the rouge and spin the wheel on it to load it up.
Then go to town on the clip.The more you go over it and load the wheel as needed the more polished it will be.
I can have a mirror finnish on one in less than 10 min.

Another good opption is to take it to a machine shop or auto body shop and have them bead blast it.This gives it a flat grey color.
Heres another good place to check out.
http://www.customjewelshop.com/color.html
 
The only thing I can add to u812's post is that you could substitute Break-Free CLP instead of Militec-1 & use Flitz metal polish instead of blue jewelers rouge. Flitz claims corrosion protection so it may be a plus. Both can be easily found in any gun store or BIG-5.
 
From what I have noticed if they ever get rust on them no matter what you do it is easier for it to come back than before the rusting the first time.
 
Flitz does not work,at least not for me.It is not abarsive and is real good for cleaning and bringing back the shine that was allready there but it does not do much to put the shine on.
 
Thanks for all the tips guys!

Really these are minor issues and the Endura is good to go. I guess restoring this one almost makes up for trashing my other one hehe.
 
Hey I'm curious... will that trick with the felt wheel and jeweler's rouge work well on a blade too? I see no reason why not. I was just thinking it could be handy to have some way to put a mirror shine on a safe queen... not that I have any :p
 
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