Best look

hhmoore

hhmoore

Joined
Feb 7, 2014
Messages
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Let's say that you acquired a slightly used, smooth coated Becker that you wanted to make look better. Would you use sandpaper to tone down the scratches & lighten/even the finish, strip it & leave it, or strip and sand?
 
I don't think it will bruise easily...and the point of making it look better is making it look better. Probably won't be a user unless/until I find a better one to serve desk duty.
 
hhmoore said:
I don't think it will bruise easily...and the point of making it look better is making it look better. Probably won't be a user unless/until I find a better one to serve desk duty.
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It that case, I'd just try to buff out the scratches.
 
actually, there is :D for me :D i call them hot backups

they stopped making my favorite variation of original Becker, so i gots a lot to use...

sooner or later, maybe the clock comes around again...
 
strip, do not sand.
unless you're unemployed, bored and enjoy carpal tunnel syndrome. In that case, sand/polish too.
stripped un-polished beckers look great.
 
Depends on how deep and wide the scratches are.

If no bare metal is showing, then sand to even everything out. Start with fine then go coarse. Don't want to remove too much, just enough.

If that doesn't work or the results aren't what you want, then a strip and forced patina.

I've tried the strip and sand to a polish, too much work. ;)
 
For a desk or dress knife? Given a weekend off, I'd strip it, widen out the "horns" of the handle about a half-inch depending on model, crisp up the spine for the first inch or two in front of the handle and crown the rest. Then give it a light regrind to about 600 grit, convex the edge and hand-sand it to 2000... maybe 4000 grit if I was feeling frisky. Slap some G10 or stabilized wood on it and wrap it in leather.

But I'm kinda OCD that way... :o :D

For a user... honestly I'd just use it a lot. The coating will come off eventually, and they look cool when they're all worn down and beat-up.
 
daizee said:
strip, do not sand.
unless you're unemployed, bored and enjoy carpal tunnel syndrome. In that case, sand/polish too.
stripped un-polished beckers look great.
Click to expand...

this is the reason i have a small hand-sander. tried to sand a Becker by hand a while back and thought i was going to perish in flames. now, i strip, sand w/ sander while slowly increasing grit count, then i hand polish (if i want a shine). i do agree that un-polished does look pretty sweet, but i'm way to adhd to leave it alone after stripping.
 
careful use of a 5" random orbit sander will result in a close approximation of the look of a stone-washed finish.
 
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