How to "fix up" a beat up blade

[fulloflead]

This is a used Greco Falcon (See attached.) that I happily won on ebay after regretting having sold a newer one I once owned.

The blade is reasonably scratched up and stained, but the knife has PLENTY of life left in it and I want to fix it up and keep it this time. How would you recommend I "fix up" the blade?

I was thinking of starting with an emery cloth and working myself, progressively, to finer grits until I got something like a satin, but the blade has a pretty agressive/rough satin finish now, so I think it would take a LOT to get down through that. Scotchbrite? A wire wheel on my dremil? I don't have anything resembling knifemakers tools; just a dremil, quite a few different sandpapers and several kinds polishing compound sticks. This is definately an indoor "hobby room" project. Imagine me working at a small workbench in an apartment rather than a "shop".

Any ideas how to "pimp" or "spruce" up this classic?

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[Daniel Koster]

definitely don't use the wire wheel.....permanent satin finish, for sure!


You could probably get quite a bit of cleanup work done with a small felt wheel on your dremel and some gray compound (coarse stuff). That will give it a good satin finish that's "restorable" later on as you use it. It will take more time than using a buffer, but it does work. Just this evening, I was buffing using a cone-shaped mandrel chucked in my electric hand drill.

I'd try that first before going to any sandpaper.

Having "restored" and "refinished" hundreds of knives...I've begun telling people who want to refinish knives to start with the finest grit they have and work backwards. Seems counter-intuitive, but the higher grit lets you know quickly which scratches are deeper. Just keep going more and more coarse until you finally wipe them out.

If you start out at a low grit....you'll put scratches all over the knife instead of just in small spots...and potentially add deeper ones.

Just my 0.02

Good luck with your project....that's what got me into knifemaking!

 

[fulloflead]

Interesting, Daniel. Thank you.

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[fulloflead]

I figured it out. I found a dremil bit at Home Depot that's basically a scotch brite wheel. Turns out the scratches were really shallow and was mostly in the bead-blastish finish. It looks better than new now. I might do the handles some day too. It's got these micarta scales that are like an upgrade that you can put on top of the frame. I've got those on there and it looks really good, but it might look better with the black micarta over a silver frame. A project for another day.

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[Daniel Koster]

Excellent!

Good choice of finish - durable and repeatable.