Anyone ever tried stone-washing a steel-handled folder?

S

SCWillson

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Aug 2, 2013
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My EDC Spyderco SS is about 6 years old. The blade is still in excellent condition, but the knife it is getting pretty beat up on the handles, with many many scratches and small dings. I'd like to see if I could make it look better and sort of liked the look of the stonewashed blades I've seen here on BladeForums.

Has anyone ever tried stonewashing one of these, or something similar? Any suggestions on how to go about it? Obviously I'd have to protect the blade and locking surfaces, but what would be the best way to do that?
 
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Yes, stonewashing steel works just fine.




There are many videos on YouTube on how to stonewash, most are about knife blades but I am pretty sure there are a couple about stonewashing handles as well.
 
Those both look awesome.

I'm mostly looking at stonewashing the handle, but I might consider doing the blade too. Obviously stonewashing the Dragonfly SS may have some difficulties since I can't disassemble it, but it looks doable. I've watched several stonewashing videos, but do you have any suggestions?
 
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I use the DIY method, a Nalgene 1 Liter wide mouth bottle, fill it with 15-20 quarter sized round rocks, put a pool of WD40 on the bottom. I wrap the bottle in a towel and tie the ends and throw it in the dryer on the "air dry" setting. Time will vary depending on how you want it to look. I protected the lock face with tape as well as the detente ball. On the Cryo, after I removed the blade and everything I screwed the to scales back together and wedged a flat lego piece between the lock bar and the opposite scale. That kept the lock face from getting beat on and the lock bar from bending. I believe I saw that on a video somewhere, or here on BF.

I am sure there are better methods, but this is what has worked for me.
 
Thanks. I'll try tape and fingernail polish (saw that on a video) to protect the portions I don't want stonewashed. Duct tape should be tough enough.

I may do a test run with a "throwaway" knife first. I've got several pieces of junk that could serve a noble cause if they are destroyed by experimentation.
 
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