knife refinishing

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ls81

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Jan 6, 2022
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I bid on and won a Benchmade mini barrage that came in the black blade color.

Either the seller added photos after I put in my maximum bid or somehow I totally missed the fact that the side of the blade was engraved with someone's name. Its a very unique name and I've reached out to the only registered owner of that name on facebook to verify that the knife wasn't stolen before it was sold online. I doubt that it was because in the photos of the auction the name is clearly visible.

I contacted the company about blade refinishing and they don't offer it I can pay $75 for a new blade installed by them but that takes me to the price of a new knife. I can sand and polish the blade myself. I have some experience doing this with a pistol slide that was engraved with the police department that traded it in's name and know just how much work is involved in this case with a very sharp edge involved.

I mean its gonna be an idc blade that I will absolutely beat the crap out of on a daily basis but I just don't want someone else name on my knife.

What would you do?
 
Hopefully you'll get some better suggestions as the thread progresses, but I suppose you could use the same technique you did on the slide, though this blade is going to be significantly harder than the steel in any pistol slide, so plan for it to take a lot more time and effort.
 
G. Scott H. said:
Hopefully you'll get some better suggestions as the thread progresses, but I suppose you could use the same technique you did on the slide, though this blade is going to be significantly harder than the steel in any pistol slide, so plan for it to take a lot more time and effort.
Click to expand...
The Glock's finish was pretty hard but yeah probably nothing like blade steel. I do think the pistol markings were deeper because I could feel them with my finger tip not just my finger nail.
 
Ah! If it was a Glock and you had to work through the finish (and the characters were deeper), then perhaps it won't be much more difficult doing the blade. I was thinking of a standard blued or stainless slide, but Glock's (and others') surface finishes are very, very hard. 👍
 
I'd want to take the name off for two reasons- 1. I just don't want someone else's name (other than the maker) on my knives. And 2. If I lost it and someone else found it I don't want any issues claiming it.

I think hand sanding an engraving out of hardened steel would take quite awhile. Since it's going to be a user and have the crap beaten out of it I would use a dremel with sanding drums. And although such a procedure could be done in a way that looks decent (particularly with some finish hand sanding) since it's a "beater" who cares if the finished result looks pretty.
 
Definitely would want that name removed. But I would be cautious using a dremel. I've seen quite a few blades sort of "ruined" by dremel work.
I personally would prefer a bench grinder or lacking that, hand sanding.
 
A few years ago, I bought a very used 580 Barrage off a guy at work for cheap. Other than the knife being around the block a few times, he scratched the be-jeepers out of the blade trying to sharpen it at work using some sort of electric sharpener. The scratches irked me but since I live in a hostile country, sending it in for a blade replacement was out of the question. So I took my WorkSharp belt sander out and with a worn fine belt, kind of made the scratches look more like natural wear, rather than a bad sharpening job.

It still looks awful, but a little less awful and I don't look at the knife with contempt as much.
 
I bought a Mini Skirmish that had a name scratched into one of the titanium scales...
Wvaltakis made it look better than new for me.
You can find him in Chipped Metal... Blackwood 635 04.jpgThe Phoenix 02.jpg
 
Yeah I think I might just put this back up on eBay and take my chances. After using the knife a little bit last night it’s too small for my bear Paw hand and I just don’t like it enough to either spend the money for a new blade spend the money to fix my blade or go through the hours of work it would take to make it pretty.
 
I also reached out to the only person on Facebook with that particular name as their profile name. He claims it was confiscated two years ago at a TSA checkpoint. I don’t know if I actually believe him or not. If it was mine I’d certainly be trying to buy it back.
 
Try hand sanding, or even better - sand blasting then use hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid) to etch the blade nice and deep, and then stone wash it. If only light traces of the name is left on the blade, the acid etch and stone wash should make it blend away and disappear.
 
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ls81 said:
. I can sand and polish the blade myself. I have some experience doing this with a pistol slide that was engraved with the police department that traded it in's name and know just how much work is involved in this case with a very sharp edge involved.
Click to expand...
Use mechanical tools and technique you mentioned.
Take before and after pics.
Gently square the mini barrage edge so you don't cut yourself.
I would remove the blade from handle. But you could blue tape the entire handle up to the butt of the blade at the ricasso.
Preserve factory pivot and stop pin surfaces in all cases.
I would remove thumbstud's.
It might be fun to acid etch blade with whatever acids you have around the house and scotchbrite / brillo / steelwool it, to randomize lettering.
Based on outcome of playing around with surface, I might next tumble blade.
Look up "DIY sandblasting" if you understand requirements for sandblasting and safety equipment.
Sand blastingI might use output side of shop vac or 150psi compressor, to pickup and output sand, held in container taped / hotglued to one of the a micro tips
Whatever scratch pattern you use to erase etching will need to be blended to your preferred final finish, so do not start with coarse grit.
I might rub the blade across a sanding block with wet 800 grit wet n dry sandpaper somewhere along above workflow.
As a work knife, many finish options are possible combining or eliminating above processes; things like salts and acids or coatings like cerakote, duracoats, etc. Brownells or local hardware store might be worth a visit.
 
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