High-polished Sebenza?

link2derek

link2derek

Joined
Oct 8, 2010
Messages
8,340
Ok, so I have seen a few of these popping up here and there. I find the look appealing, so I did a high-polish finish on one of my small 21's.
It's a bit slippery, and it takes fingerprints easily, but I still like it.

Hope y'all aren't tired of my pix, because here are some more for ya' . . . let me know your thoughts on this one.

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safetyman said:
Looks great! Love the scotch-brite finish...I've got that finish on all of my Sebs :).
Click to expand...

Your pix were definitely one of my influences, my friend. I also saw a couple YouTube vids with polished Sebs, and I just had to have one!

BTW, would you mind sharing the technique you use to get your finish? I'd love to know.

Thanks.
 
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Here's what I do:

- Disassemble knife
- Wash parts down to degrease them
- Scrub and scrub and scrub the scales with green Scotch-Brite pad until I get the look I want.
- Do the same to the clip
- Polish the thumbstud and hardware if they're blue with polishing compound.
- Assemble knife and marvel at my work :).

Pretty simple!
 
I used some 0000# steel wool to lightly (very lightly) polish my Sebenza and it turned out great. Just a little smoother then the fresh blasted finish. I recently bought a Lg. 21 with a full polish treatment and it's much slicker. The finish is better suited for nice pants then jeans.
 
Nice looking job you did there. I my self am not a fan of the polished handle. I had an Umnumzaan come that way and I immediately bead blasted it off.. lol. I like contrast of the silver blade / screws / thumbstud vs the gray handle. But.. good job on yours .
 
safetyman said:
Here's what I do:

- Disassemble knife
- Wash parts down to degrease them
- Scrub and scrub and scrub the scales with green Scotch-Brite pad until I get the look I want.
- Do the same to the clip
- Polish the thumbstud and hardware if they're blue with polishing compound.
- Assemble knife and marvel at my work :).

Pretty simple!
Click to expand...

Josh K said:
I used some 0000# steel wool to lightly (very lightly) polish my Sebenza and it turned out great. Just a little smoother then the fresh blasted finish. I recently bought a Lg. 21 with a full polish treatment and it's much slicker. The finish is better suited for nice pants then jeans.
Click to expand...


Thanks, guys. I haven't tried the Scotch-Brite yet -- I should give that a try.

I prime the scales (disassembled, obviously) with fine steel wool, then I use 400-grit, 800-grit, and 1000-grit WetorDry sandpaper. On this one above, I finished it with 15-micron, 9-micron, 5-micron, and 2-micron diamond-impregnated polish cloth that I use on my watches. Took me about 3+ hours (and 3+ beers!!!) total, but it was time well spent.
 
I never get tired of Knife Photos!

Looks good. I too prefer the look of the sand blasted scales, but I can appreciate the polish work. :thumbup:
 
link2derek said:
Thanks, guys. I haven't tried the Scotch-Brite yet -- I should give that a try.

I prime the scales (disassembled, obviously) with fine steel wool, then I use 400-grit, 800-grit, and 1000-grit WetorDry sandpaper. On this one above, I finished it with 15-micron, 9-micron, 5-micron, and 2-micron diamond-impregnated polish cloth that I use on my watches. Took me about 3+ hours (and 3+ beers!!!) total, but it was time well spent.
Click to expand...

The three beers I can understand...but 3 hours?! Sheesh, it takes me about 10 minutes with a Scotch-Brite pad :eek:.
 
safetyman said:
The three beers I can understand...but 3 hours?! Sheesh, it takes me about 10 minutes with a Scotch-Brite pad :eek:.
Click to expand...

Consider though, that that's total time including disassembly, washing each piece, drying, greasing, and, of course, the polishing and reassembly. Plus, I took a break in between each grit level to check my email! And I spent extra time on the 5- and 3-micron sheets to make sure I got a jewelry-like finish on the edges. The edges are so mirror-polished that I can't get them to show up properly in my pix. You'd have to see it in person to really "see" the three hours!!!
 
If you ever want the sebenza re-bead blasted (and sharpened like no ones business, it will cut the air you breathe...) then feel free to send it to me and I will do it for free Derek.
 
Thanks for the generous offer, Bill. I'll definitely keep that in mind.

For now, I'm gonna keep it the way it is. Ya' know, all that work. . . .
 
link2derek said:
Consider though, that that's total time including disassembly, washing each piece, drying, greasing, and, of course, the polishing and reassembly. Plus, I took a break in between each grit level to check my email! And I spent extra time on the 5- and 3-micron sheets to make sure I got a jewelry-like finish on the edges. The edges are so mirror-polished that I can't get them to show up properly in my pix. You'd have to see it in person to really "see" the three hours!!!
Click to expand...

Gotcha. However long it took you that think looks awesome :). If you don't mind, could you snap some pictures that show the polished edges? I might want to do what you do now...
 
safetyman said:
Gotcha. However long it took you that think looks awesome :). If you don't mind, could you snap some pictures that show the polished edges? I might want to do what you do now...
Click to expand...

I tried multiple angles today to capture the edges (which are the most impressive part of the finish) with no luck. I'm going to try again when I have more direct sunlight, and hopefully I can get some pix worth sharing. Stay tuned, Seb fans. . . .
 
Thanks, ZTKT. I have three small 21's -- one was moderately polished for an "antiqued" look, and the other two were factory finished. So, I figured, what the heck, I'm gonna go for it!
 
Does that number include your Cocobolo sebenza that you stubbornly hung on too... lol. I tried to pry it out of his cold dead hands but he wouldn't let it go. How many sebenzas total do you have? Large, small, whatever?
 
Incahiker said:
Does that number include your Cocobolo sebenza that you stubbornly hung on too... lol. I tried to pry it out of his cold dead hands but he wouldn't let it go. How many sebenzas total do you have? Large, small, whatever?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I still have the Cocobolo -- there's just something about that one!
Let's see, hard to keep up these days - I let three Mnandis go, I have one Zaan incoming, but as for Sebbies . . . 9 (4 inlays, 3 plains, 2 graphics).

Ten sounds better! I'm looking for another large (most any flavor, just not Micarta b/c that's what I already have). Here's the Cocobolo again:

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