Brass handguards on new Spartan Ek Dagger..question

J

JJaggar

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Jan 15, 2015
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I love this new collaboration dagger from Spartan and Ek, they say that the handguards are "legacy brass guards" that were found during an inventory by Ka Bar of the old Ek company they bought out. In old Ek models I see the brass handguard is nice and shiny, some even developing a nice patina as on this older Ek model...

Screenshot_2016-04-26-17-12-58_zpszqiz31dp.png
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On my new Spartan Ek the brass legacy guards are a matte finish no shine and I guess that's the look they were going for with this dagger but I'm very curious if there is a way to put/get a shiny finish on these matte brass guards if I end up deciding I'd like that? Does anyone know if that is possible to do? Here is a pic of the new Spartan Ek brass guard..

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I noticed the brass handguards on mine had a little bit of discoloration by the blade. Used some brasso and they cleaned right up. I think they look a lot better now too.
Not polished obviously but less hazy looking now and no more spots by the blade.
 
I'm not in a position to give you a definitive answer, but here are a few thoughts..... Brass, or the brass alloy is relatively soft and the finish on these guards is pretty nice. One might be able to just use a buffing wheel and some compound. If not, some fine grit paper would probably get you there quickly. Protecting the blade and handle would be the main concern. It looks like the handle slabs could be removed (I haven't tried yet) and the blade could be protected with tape.

I'm guessing the guard is press fit to the tang. It might be possible to gently press the guard off of the tang and then it would be easy to polish. Might even contact Spartan/Ka-Bar to see if they'd sell you a spare guard to play with.

At the risk of making a mess of things, I think I might try taking a cloth and Simichrome to an edge of the guard to see what happens. Mike
 
Yeah its not a big deal to me I do in fact like the finish on the entire Spartan Ek and think the brass handguards are purposely matte finished the way they are, I just like the look of the old shiny handguards on the old models and was just curious if in fact they could be made shiny. A cloth and Simichrome is a good idea though Mike, thanks!
 
Well, I'm supposed to be doing yard work right now, but this seemed like a fun little effort.

I couldn't find my Simichrome so I used Pol metal polish. It's something I've had around for about 15 years. Still seems to work.
First, I polished the guard with just the polish. It brightened up pretty well, but the beaded texture still showed through.
Next, I tried some 600 grit paper. Made things much nicer but still saw some of the beaded pattern.
Went to 320 (a big step, but all I had). Still a small amount of the bead blast pattern.
Went to 220. That did it. Then up to 320, and 600, then polished. Looked pretty decent. Had some 1500 grit paper (another step that was probably too big). It seemed to refine the scratch pattern a bit more.
Then a final polish.
I'm a flat out novice at photography, so taking pictures of "shine" was kind of difficult. Tried to emulate some examples I've seen here.
The first picture is just trying to show the "shiny-ness". One can see the bead blasted parts of the guard on either side of the flats for comparison.
The second picture shows the reflection of some newsprint.
The third picture shows the reflection of a small flower.
The last picture shows the unpolished side. Notice there is no reflection of the flower.

This mostly shows my willingness to to avoid pulling weeds. I'm sure someone more adept could achieve a better polished surface and probably more quickly. I just used paper and a flat backing. I like the shiny stuff also, but if used as intended, the mat (sp?) finish is more appropriate. Now what to do - back to the mat finish or polish it all? For your entertainment. Mike






 
Oh wow Mike you did it! You absolutely answered the question as to if the guard can be brought to the vintage style polished brass! Awesome man that side you did looks really nice and yes good question as to keep it polished or back to the matte blast? Really cool
 
What a really sweet collaboration dagger this really is, it is my 1st Spartan Blade knife and I had no idea the dagger would come as sharp out of the box as it did, and the point whew absolutely wicked needle like tip. I took the dagger to my cheapo Smith's 1k ceramic stone for a few swipes on each side and I was pleasantly surprised of just how much more sharp the edges got with just a few minutes of swipes on the ceramic stone!
 
Mike157 said:
Well, I'm supposed to be doing yard work right now, but this seemed like a fun little effort.

I couldn't find my Simichrome so I used Pol metal polish. It's something I've had around for about 15 years. Still seems to work.
First, I polished the guard with just the polish. It brightened up pretty well, but the beaded texture still showed through.
Next, I tried some 600 grit paper. Made things much nicer but still saw some of the beaded pattern.
Went to 320 (a big step, but all I had). Still a small amount of the bead blast pattern.
Went to 220. That did it. Then up to 320, and 600, then polished. Looked pretty decent. Had some 1500 grit paper (another step that was probably too big). It seemed to refine the scratch pattern a bit more.
Then a final polish.
I'm a flat out novice at photography, so taking pictures of "shine" was kind of difficult. Tried to emulate some examples I've seen here.
The first picture is just trying to show the "shiny-ness". One can see the bead blasted parts of the guard on either side of the flats for comparison.
The second picture shows the reflection of some newsprint.
The third picture shows the reflection of a small flower.
The last picture shows the unpolished side. Notice there is no reflection of the flower.

This mostly shows my willingness to to avoid pulling weeds. I'm sure someone more adept could achieve a better polished surface and probably more quickly. I just used paper and a flat backing. I like the shiny stuff also, but if used as intended, the mat (sp?) finish is more appropriate. Now what to do - back to the mat finish or polish it all? For your entertainment. Mike






Click to expand...

Yeah Mike, that looks good. I might just have a project to start. lol
 
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