Questions on 80t schrade with serrated blade

I thought I might add to this thread about the 89OT with this. The 89OT was one of the knives chosen for the Copenhagen Snuff advertising promotion back in the '90's.

Like most of the others in the edition, it had black delrin scales, a small round coined brass shield reading "Since 1822 Copenhagen It Satisfies , and a main blade etch "Copenhagen ". It has brass bolsters and the tangstamp "Schrade Cope USA .

All three blades are 1095 carbon steel, as you will see from the photo I will post. This particular knife has not been cleaned at all, and is just the way I acquired it, unused but nasty. Maybe I will post another pic of it after I have refurbished the blades.



Anyone familliar with my rants and rambles knows I have a habit of chasing down all the varients of any Schrade pattern that interests me. Skoal and Copenhagen promotional knives included so many patterns that I run into them pretty often in my searches. Either or both would make excellent displays in and of themselves. In the case of the 89COPE, I put the cart before the horse, or varient before the base pattern as it were. But what can I say? When opportunity knocks....... :D

Codger
 
Codger, that's a great knife. When you say refurbish the blades, what does that entail? Do you use sandpaper to remove the rust, stain and tarnish, and then buff and polish? How do you keep from rounding over the crisp edges?

I have put off cleaning up some of mine because I don't know how to do it and didn't want to cause any new damage. I was also thinking about getting some buffing pads for my grinder; a Dremel tool just doesn't get the job done.
 
Give me a high speed dremmel, an assorment of attachments, pads, abrasives and.......I can ruin nearly any knife! I start by a deep cleaning. Get the acumulated gunk out and off. then a gentle hand polishing with a really mild abrasive like auto polishing compound. By then the knife should look as good as it can get without your having changed the metal, except for removing the patina.

Then come back to it and decide what you want it to be...a "restored near mint", or a nice appearing user. Older, rarer knives should maybe be just stabilized and left alone. If it is like my 89COPE, not rare, but neat, I would go further and buff the blades. No doubt with that knife, I will loose the already faint etch. No big deal to me. If it is going to be a user, I would use an abrasive, progressively finer until I get it to a nice satin crocus finish. I don't have a power buffer to give them mirror polish, or I might use that, depending on the knife's original type finish ( I will be sending a few fixed blades to a member with a buffer and some skill to have this done). A lot of the Schrades had a crocus finish.

Pits, you will not remove, but you can clean them out for a nicer appearance. Scratches, if not deep, aren't too hard to remove. The thickness of the steel has a lot to do with how far you can go with a refinish job. Whatever you do, don't overheat the knife. If you use power tools, stop when the blade is too hot to hold comfortably to your lips. You can slow quench the blade by laying it on a thicker piece of cool steel...Kind of a heat sink. remember to finish with an oil or wax, or it will be right back like it was.

Everyone has their own methods, and trial and error is the best teacher. Restore one of your wife's "Old Hickory" Ontario kitchen knives as an experiment, and snatch a few busted rusties at a yard sale or flea market if you want to practice first.

Codger
 
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