Question about mirror polishing a blade

[guitar1580]

I read the polishing thread, and it is pretty much the same method I've used to polish various objects. I do them by hand, with wet sandpaper from 220 up to 2000, then finish with Flitz or other polishing compounds.

I'm going to do a Buck 112 blade that was scratched up, and for those of you who have done it, I'm wondering if you just mask off the bolster and sand / polish right over the logo? It would be nice to have the knife apart, but I've never disassembled one, and I'm just wondering if it is possible to polish close enough with the blade still attached.

Any suggestions would be helpful.

JT

 

[unit]

It is certainly going to be more challenging to polish up against the bolster.

I am not going to be able to give any advice on taking the knife apart as I am not familiar with the process. I can tell you that if it were me, I would attempt to clean it back to the original finish and then not have to go near the bolster...or find a good stopping point for your polishing job that stops you short of the bolster. For example, polish the hollows and stop at the plunge, then leave the flats in satin so you do not have to worry with screwing up the bolster.

Another option would be to polish everything including the bolster...but I wouldn't.

Good luck...

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

There's sort of an upside here, in that the bolster is brass. If it does get scratched while polishing the blade, it's still relatively easy to sand out the scratches and re-polish it. Much, much easier, in fact, than polishing the steel blade. Done exactly the same way as with the blade, using a tight sequence of sandpaper grits up through 2000+, then followed with polishing compound (Flitz, Simichrome, etc.). Use lighter pressure with the sandpaper, because a given grit will cut more deeply in the softer brass, leaving an effectively coarser finish than the same grit used on steel. If I were doing this project myself, I wouldn't worry too much about the bolster, if scratching it is the main concern. And masking the bolster with tape or whatever would mitigate much of the risk anyway. The blade polishing would likely be a bit slower near the bolster, assuming greater care is focused on protecting it. I'd think trying to remove the blade, polish it, and then re-installing the blade might introduce a lot more potential for unanticipated problems after the fact, especially if one hasn't done that sort of work before. Pivot pin would have to be replaced with a new one, potentially creating new issues like blade play, at least.

Edit:
Regarding sanding over the logo (I assume this means the tang stamp), I wouldn't go below 400 grit with the sandpaper to start, unless the tang is so deeply scratched, 400 wouldn't remove them. The tang stamp on the blade is a pretty deep one on Buck's blades, so I don't think there's much risk of removing it with the sandpaper.