anyone know how buck etches blades

K

kossetx

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Apr 11, 2017
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I have had this unique 119 for a few years. I've been trying to get over the blade etch but it doesn't work. 0 steel wool and polishes don't do a thing and I can feel that the k is deeper than the other letters. the other letters really have no feel. I'm assuming fine SP is my solution but what do you all think?

I'm good with my hands and have worked with knives but I'm kinda hesitant about this. sorry about the poor pics of the engraving but it is done really nice and covers all aluminum parts.

imageupload
 
Buck has a very good engraver on staff. Hand work is the only way to get the curved area worked on the pommel. (an air hammer engraver). If your meaning the silk screening, wording. That will easily come off by rubbing with a 3M scotch-bite pad.
Don't apply much pressure. DM
 
Thanks David, but it's not going to come off with scotch brite. That was my first try.
 
If the Scotch-Brite didn't work, my next try would be to use some SiC wet/dry sandpaper at maybe ~ 220 - 400 grit (often a close match to many factory 'satin' or 'brushed' finishes on blades). Wrap the paper around the rounded corner of a wooden block or something similar, and make the passes linearly & upward to emulate the factory grind marks, from just above the edge bevel to the upper shoulder of the hollow in the grind. Might try the ~ 400 first and see how it's scratch pattern matches up to the finish on your blade. That's easier than going too coarse at the beginning, and then having to clean up those coarser scratches if they don't match up well.

Might even try the block with the Scotch-Brite first, in the same manner. Using a firm backing block can help it work a little more aggressively than if done using finger pressure alone. Maybe that'll be just enough. But if it isn't, the wet/dry sandpaper can get it done pretty quickly.
 
Yes, I would try the block. OR triple ought steel wool. That should take an inking off. DM
 
Thanks,

David, 0 is much coarser than 000, and 0 didn't work. Didn't even seem to make it any lighter in color.

OWE, I figure sandpaper is the solution but since I can feel the depth of the K, I'm wondering if I should. I might have to remove a few thousands and that worries me.
 
kossetx said:
Thanks,

David, 0 is much coarser than 000, and 0 didn't work. Didn't even seem to make it any lighter in color.

OWE, I figure sandpaper is the solution but since I can feel the depth of the K, I'm wondering if I should. I might have to remove a few thousands and that worries me.
Click to expand...

I understand the hesitancy to use sandpaper. I have a few knives of my own that I've been on the fence over, for a long time, in whether I should do the same. So, it's something one needs to be sure of, in making the commitment to do it. Sometimes deep etches can be lightened or faded over some time, using something like metal polish (Flitz, Simichrome, etc) to scrub into the depth of it using a stiff brush, for example; that's something less aggressive to try, if you're inclined to. But with a deep etch, no matter what means is used, it'll alter the blade's finish to some degree, one way or another.

I suggested the sandpaper because I've found it to work well in cleaning up coarse scratches from sharpening, which likely sometimes run to similar depth as some etches on blades. I also did this with an old Victorinox SAK that, a long time ago, I'd actually scribed my initials into, on the blade. Digging the knife out years later, I'd found it to be pretty ugly ( :eek: ) and wondered why I'd done it in the first place. That was a good test subject for me, in teaching how the sandpaper works; anything would've improved on it, as it was. :D I used 320-grit on that, and it went very quickly and ended up looking decent as well. So, doing so on beater/practice/inexpensive blades in similar steels can give you some practice and a sense of how it'll work, before committing to it on some of your more valued knives.
 
Then it is not a silk screen inking. It is a acid/ electro etched and to remove that it has to be sanded. If you had a hollow grinding wheel it would make it easier. If not start with fine sand paper (SiC) with a some type of rubber backing. The heal of a
rubber sandal would work. Just so it conforms with the hollow grid of the blade. Place the sandpaper over it and start using elbow grease. Once you get it off continue using finer sandpaper until you have it blended in and the finish like you want it on both sides. DM
 
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