Bolsters - to polish or not?

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gkentsmith

Joined
Nov 21, 2006
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Hi,
I'm a new collector of mint condition knives. Occasionally one will show up with signs that the bolsters have been touched and there are slight discolorations from fingers. My question is this: is it OK from a collector's standpoint to clean these :confused: ? If so, do I use brass cleaner and/or silver cleaner or would Tarn-x be appropriate. Again, I'm only concerned with light discoloration on bolsters only.

Thanks in advance for any advice,
Kent
 
Don't use brass cleaner. It's much too abrasive. Tarnx will remove the tarnish to a degree, but the finish will be dull. Nev-R-Dull works well. Second choice would be Simichrome.
Bill
 
gkentsmith said:
My question is this: is it OK from a collector's standpoint to clean these :confused: ?
Click to expand...
I don't know what collectors would say, but it seems to me that if the knife has shiny, new looking bolsters with some smudges and fingerprints, then it should be ok to polish them up. If it was an old knife with a well-developed patina of course you probably already know you'd want to leave it.
 
For brand new knives that I want to keep brand new looking (without removing too much material polishing) I usually look towards a high grade automotive cleaner wax(Mothers paste wax is my favorite). The abrasive in these is generally much finer than even simichrome (and nevrdull) and also leaves a protective coat that prevents further tarnishing.
 
One of the dealers I buy from has cautioned me about using paste waxes as they are purported to posibly cause discoloration from the carnuba? Is this an urban legend, or is there something to it? :confused:

Thanks.
 
I wouldn't use a carnuba wax with a dye in it, such as turtle wax and many others. In any event it will leave far less discoloration than a polish like flitz will. The mother's wax I mentioned does have a pink color, but it's really almost colorless in thin applications. The big thing to worry about when polishing bolsters with light colored natural material (or some old plastics) is the discoloration caused by the metal and tarnish being removed. I suggest treating the cleaner wax as you would a metal polish. If you do so then discoloration should not be an issue, and any you do get on the handle material will likely do far less damage than flitz or similar.
 
Thanks - I am currently trying Flitz, Metal Glo, and Nevr-Dull for cleaning. I think I'll stick to using Mothers wax just for protective applications. :D
 
+1 for Nevr-Dull. It cleans well but doesn't seem abrasive at all. The most important step is buffing well by hand, with a soft cloth.
 
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