How to remove small scratches on the polished finishing blade?

A product called Metal Armor works amazingly well on highly polished knives, and it doesn’t scratch. You just need to shake the bottle well before applying.
 
I generally use Simichrome and Wenol metal polishes along with a paper towel and soft cloth and finger pressure if I need to polish a shiny blade. I do not have any super expensive knives - this is more for stuff like Case stainless steel blades on $50 knives.

My suggestion - don't use a power tool of any kind (Dremel, buffing wheel, etc). If it is a really expensive knife, then sure, back to the maker. If you can afford a multi-thousand-dollar knife, you can afford to pay for professional maintenance.
 
I put a cloth polishing wheel on my grinder and use some green polishing compound. It will polish up, remove light scratches, and remove patina as well and make it look like new. I have also had good luck with Case Paste and elbow grease, but not sure how that would do with the scratches, I guess it depends on how deep they are
 
Carl Kills Kittens said:
Bad information here. Scratches in a mirror polish need an entirely new mirror polish. You can’t just do a spot treatment on the scratches, the entire finish needs to be redone.
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I tend to agree with the second part of this post.

If the scratches are VERY FINE then the final buffing process (on a wheel with compound) might get them out. Getting a good mirror from a buffing wheel can be tricky, so if you decide to try a homemade fix, I’d at least try to find someone with experience with mirror polishing.

Otherwise, as the kitten killer (??) said, the process would need to be restarted at approximately the same grit as the deepest scratch.

However, I’d also vote to contact the maker before doing anything.

Good luck and if the secrecy isn’t necessary we’d love to know/see what we’re talking about…
 
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bigolegator said:
So you’re telling me when I actually have done this before with good results, that I actually didn’t do it and I’m misleading the OP ?? Blades and certain finishes are different from one to the next as well. Some also suggested contacting the maker for help as well…bad info too huh??
Be real clear on your answer please.
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a mirror polish is a mirror polish. you can’t just remove a single scratch without working up through the grits until it’s a full polish again. There is no need to get upset, young lad.
 
It all depends on how deep the scratches are. The key is starting with a very fine grit and working your way down to the grit level that gets them out.

When you find that level, sand the entire blade to that grit. Move up to the next finer grit. Move up to the next finer. And so on until you wind up at buffing the whole blade to a mirror finish.

That’s really the only way. Amazon has some sandpaper kits that go from basically gravel to smooth as a microfiber cloth. They’re cheap too - about 12 bucks.

Get some and start fine and go down til you take the scratches out, then work your way back up.

If this knife actually cost you “many thousands”, you might want to just send it in to the maker and ask them to refinish it.

If it were mine and I didn’t intend on hermetically sealing it away from the world I’d just use it and not give a shit about the scratches. 🤷‍♂️ Truly mirror polished blades don’t stay that way through even one day of use.
 
Bear in mind OP that if you do decide to go the route of sanding and polishing it yourself, it's gonna take some time. Especially without using power tools.

I tried doing this on a Becker BK-16, and it was a multi-hour process.

Granted I was starting with a rough blade, but the longest part was at the higher grits. And I never achieved a true mirror, even after hours of polishing.

As many have already said already, best send it back to the maker and pay them to do it.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Anyone telling you to use ANY sandpaper on your mirror polished custom knife has no clue what they are talking about.
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Wow!

Sure.

Unless of course he wants to remove the scratches, and do so himself, and isn’t too worried about (possibly) lowering the resale value…

Then maybe they have a little bit of a clue.

Or maybe you know of something better than sandpaper?

He’ll need a buffing wheel for sure, but with some research, time and patience it could certainly be done. It’s not rocket surgery.

For all we know the maker isn’t available, for any number of possible reasons…
 
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