A question on Dremmel use...

Ken Lau · Nov 10, 1998

Hi,

Has anyone used a Dremmel to buff up the finish of a knife blade? I have bought a second hand Cold Steel Magnum Tanto (Aus8 not San MaiIII) and it has a few scratches along the length of the blade from some careless sharpening.

Now I want to know if anyone has used the Dremmel tool to buff scratches out of their knives? If so, what compound worked best?

Cheers

Ken

txlazer · Nov 10, 1998

Hi Ken
In a word,"DONT"
I have a knife that i used a dremel tool on trying to do the same thing.
it doesn't work......
what is the finish on your blade.

------------------
Gregg Lane
Laser sales,
Custom laser work done.

thaddeus · Nov 10, 1998

I use my Dremel with an Emory-impregnated polishing wheel to polish the EDGE of my blade, or to shape it if I want a new angle, but I would never go to the side of the blade. Why? Well, because once you start polishing the blade, you are going to have to polish the WHOLE thing to get it to all look uniform, and with home equipment, it is never going to come out perfect. In other words, you are going to have a polished spot on your blade, rather than a scratch , and it is even going to look worse. To quote Gregg "In a word: DON'T".

What I suggest is that you get some Metal-Glo or Flitz, which are metal polishing compounds for shining up knives. Put some on a paper towel and scrub away at the scratch. If you do this too much, you may still get a polished spot, but it takes a lot of work to do any damage. This is how I get out little scratches from my polished steel blades (of course, don't try this on a bead blasted blade, etc).

L8r,
thaddeus.

Ken Lau · Nov 10, 1998

Hi Txlaser & Thaddeus,

It sounds as though the Dremmel's a bit of a no-no judging by your experiences....

so if that's the case, you think that Cold Steel will be able to restore the blade to its former unscratched glory? if they can then i'll ship the tanto off to the USA....

thanks for the advice!

Ken

txlazer · Nov 10, 1998

Ken
what is the current finish on the blade?

------------------
Gregg Lane
Laser sales,
Custom laser work done.

James Mattis · Nov 10, 1998

If you want to polish the surface of a blade with home equipment, try a hand-rub finish. It's easier on a flat grind than a hollow grind. Use successifly finer grits of wet&dry sandpaper and a hard narrow sanding block, and work in different directions for successive grits to eliminate all scratches from the prior grits. Finish lengthwise with the finest grit (400 looks good, but it's been done up to 2000), with the final passes one-way from hilt to point.

With a hollow grind, you need a sanding block with the appropriate curved surface, and you will be going lenghwise on all grits, with slight variation.

This takes time, but less time than trying to fix a mistake a power tool put there because it moved too fast.

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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com

Ken Lau · Nov 11, 1998

TXlazer,

the finish is as standard on the Cold Steel Tantos....I'm not sure what it is called but I think it's just the normal satin finish or is it polished??...not sure what you call it(not bead blasted anyway)!

ken

txlazer · Nov 12, 1998

Ken,

If that is the case (the blade is satin)
do what james said it's the only way to get a consistent finish

------------------
Gregg Lane
Laser sales,
Custom laser work done.

AEM · Nov 11, 1998

What if anything can be done about light pitting on the blade? I have a couple of sentimental favorite knives that I allowed to lightly rust during the years when they weren't being used. One is carbon steel, the other a stainless Gerber folder that I lost for a few years then found in the side pocket of a backpack, but with some light pits in the blade.

I used 400 and 600 grit sandpaper, then fine steel wool on the stainless blade. On the carbon steel blade I used a steel wire brush in my Dremel tool. That actually worked pretty well. Anyone know of a better approach?