coments on polished blade please.

V

Vermont woodsman

Joined
Jan 22, 2005
Messages
212
I was thinking of getting the polished blade option on my new sebbie, does anyone have any pros or cons to a polished blade. I dont really use my sebbies for any hard use, so im not to worried about scratches. I kinda like the tumbled look , but was thinking of polished to change things up.
 
The CRK polish job isn't reminiscent of a "mirror" polish. Kinda like. . .in between a tumble and a polish.

The only pro's / con's. . . . .a personal preference.

I have both and really like the polished version. :D
 
Pros:
None, that is unless your a glitterbug or shiney is your favorite colour.

Cons:
Vanadium chains show up in S30V when you try to polish it. It can and will scratch.

Personally I like the stone washed finish, but to each his own. If you search out an older Sebby with a BG42 blade that is polished they are much prettier than the newer S30Vblades
 
whats a vanadium chain? Is it when you see strations in the steel ? I had a polished benchmade one time and saw green and purple stripes if you held it at the right angle under certain light.
 
I prefer the duller finish. The big problem I've found with that great polished finish is, your fingerprints will show up anytime you even touch that surface. If it's a collector piece with little carry time, fine. If it's going to be a carry piece, it will drive you crazy.
 
Just got home to my new Small Wood Classic. It has a polished blade and so far as I can tell, It's gonna be a personal thing about marks, scratches etc. For me ,It's in my pocket right now while I play with my Nkonka.
 
I like stonewashed finish, then "polished" a little using autosol or mother's mag. Still fingerprint unfriendly, still stonewashed but a little dressier....can't remember, but someone gave me this tip...
 
I prefer the stonewashed blade for Sebbies. Face it, they really are intended to be working knives and that means they should and will get scratches. The stonewashed finish allows the blade to get those scratches while still retaining an "even" look across the blade.
 
G'day,
I really disliked the tumbled finish on my small Sebenza and spent a couple of hours polishing the hollow ground area with some various grades of wet-and-dry. I finished with with some "autosol". Now I have a sort of two-tone. The flats are tumbled and the hollows are a soft polish--I was too lazy to get all the tumbling marks out.
This finish does not mark with fingers and doesn't seem to show the scratches either.
Go for what you like best!
Greg
 
I like the look of the polished blades, but prefer to use the stonewashed because it is a more durable finish that looks better when scratched.
 
Vermont woodsman said:
whats a vanadium chain? Is it when you see strations in the steel ? I had a polished benchmade one time and saw green and purple stripes if you held it at the right angle under certain light.
Click to expand...

Vanadium is the component that makes S30V so damn hard. During heat treatment it combines with carbon to form vanadium carbide which also tends to form up in chains of molecules. Vanadium carbide is harder than aluminum oxide which is what is most commonly used in sand paper, grinding belts, and polishing compounds. So, when you try to polish an S30V blade these chains of molecules show up as a flaw in the steel which they are not, but still not what you want to see in the hollow grind of your new expensive pocket knife!
 
I prefer the polished blade...I don't get worked up about the scratches but I do agree with the others that they are much more noticeable on the polished blade.
I think the scratches give character...just like the ones on the handle.
 
For a user I get the standard stonewashed finish. The 'polished' blade looks nice on the Limited Woodies and such, which for me are 'safe queens'. But it really is a matter of personal preference.
 
I bought stonewashed on my plain classic large expressly so that I would not have reservations about cutting with it, meaning anything gunky or something that might impart scratches. As to my future Mnandi, well, that's a different story ......
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top