Polishing a Scratched Blade?

mdauben

mdauben

Joined
Oct 24, 2005
Messages
1,836
I recently picked up an old Case hunting knife. Overall its in good shape, with a clean sheath and solid handles. The one minor cosmetic flaw is that it appears a previous owner cleaned the SS blade with steel wool. There are fine, linear scratches along the length of the blade. :(

I'd like to polish them out and get the blade looking bright and new again, but I'm not quite sure how to proceed. I don't have access to a polishing wheel or any other power tools, or really any room to use them if I did. Can anyone recomend some way to do the job by hand? Wet/dry sandpaper? Polishing compound? Something else? :confused:

Thanks!
 
Wet/dry sandpaper likely caused the problem. Steel wool won't scratch blades. The blade needs to be polished on a buffer.
 
You could try getting some really fiine paper (1500 to 2500) or so and rub side to side only. It should produce a near mirror polish
 
Not to jack the thread,but I have a similar question. How would one go about buffing out hair line scratches on a blade with out having to overhaul the whole blade?.I guess what I'm asking,Is there anyway to buff one area that has light scratches and be able to blend it in with the rest of the non scratched blade?Or would the whole blade have to be buffed to make it blend in? :o
 
Bill DeShivs has alot of experience as his web site states, so I would take that as good advice. However, for a small investment, time, and elbow grease, you may try using an old t shirt and a $7.00 tube of Flitz metal polish. You can fade the scratches and approach mirror finish,depending on how hard the blade metal is and how deep the scratches are. A buffer wheel will shorten the time 100 fold, but it can be done by hand. Like Andy Dufresne knew in Shawshank Redemption.....Time and pressure..... As far as the other poster's question, not really, it will show where you rubbed it out, do the whole surface. Start with a whole new finish, if that is what you desire. Learn by doing, it is alot of fun that way. You have to start somewhere.
 
cj65 said:
Bill DeShivs has alot of experience as his web site states, so I would take that as good advice. However, for a small investment, time, and elbow grease, you may try using an old t shirt and a $7.00 tube of Flitz metal polish. You can fade the scratches and approach mirror finish,depending on how hard the blade metal is and how deep the scratches are. A buffer wheel will shorten the time 100 fold, but it can be done by hand. Like Andy Dufresne knew in Shawshank Redemption.....Time and pressure..... As far as the other poster's question, not really, it will show where you rubbed it out, do the whole surface. Start with a whole new finish, if that is what you desire. Learn by doing, it is alot of fun that way. You have to start somewhere.
Click to expand...

Thanks man I figured that,But was hoping for a easy way out lol
 
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