Can you buff scratches out of a polished blade?

Shadow449

Shadow449

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I have an inlaid sebenza with a polished blade that has some very light scratches on it. The scratches are a result of wiping the blade after sharpening and are VERY faint, they are only visible at a certain angle under the right lighting. Is there a way to buff these light scratches out?? It's driving me crazy knowing they're there.
 
They might be buffed out, depending upon how deep they are. Too deep, and polishing/buffing pastes & compounds may not be aggressive enough to remove them; at least not quickly. In a case like that, I'd likely just leave them be, and polish the blade over some time. Eventually, the scratches will diminish. Real deep scratches can really only be removed by sanding, but I doubt that'd be worth the hassle. You'd essentially have to completely re-finish the blade in doing so.

For the Sebenza, I'd bet CRK would re-polish your blade for you, if you send it back to them (if it really bugs you that much). :)


David
 
The scratches are so faint I'm sure i can buff them out without a trip to CRK but I'm not sure what product to use or how to do it so that i don't screw up the finish. Any suggestions on what to use and technique?
 
Shadow449 said:
The scratches are so faint I'm sure i can buff them out without a trip to CRK but I'm not sure what product to use or how to do it so that i don't screw up the finish. Any suggestions on what to use and technique?
Click to expand...

I'd start with either Flitz or Simichrome paste polish. Either of these are very popular for blades; both use aluminum oxide abrasive (Flitz = ~3 micron, Simichrome = ~9 micron); it stands a better chance of working scratches out of hardened steel blades. Other polishes may use abrasives that won't work in this capacity, such as those intended for use on jewelry, silver, brass, etc. Many of those use silica-based abrasives, and those won't work very well, if at all.


David
 
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From exp I can say that Flitx will polish hardened steel, just quite timeconsuming. It will also erode edges and crisp intersections (and eventually your thumb), it is after all ultrafine sandpaper in a tube....
 
Polishing is simply replacing larger scratches with smaller and smaller scratches. So yes is can be done. But I don't mind scratches from use. I prefer to call them battle scares.
 
A clean hard leather edge can be used to burnish a hardened blade as well as well washed denim, folded to make a hard edge. I would start here before going to an abrasive paste. I use both of these techniques as the final finish on blades I build.

Fred
 
It would take forever to polish out visible scratches with Flitz. How are you guys that actually polish out scratches getting it done with Flitz?? A buffing wheel??
 
I'll take a surface to 3000 w/paper (starting as coarse as is necessary based on the scratch depths), Flitx from there. Quicker to work the whole blade face than to try to Flitz out a deep scratch, as you suggest.

There's no "quick fix".
 
Shadow states that these are "very light" scratches, the result of wiping after sharpening so how deep can they be; we don't know without a picture.
What medium was being used to sharpen the blade before the wipe down, would give a good indication of how to go about removing the surface blemish. Can you post a pic?

Please don't start with a rake when a feather would work, Fred
 
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