Recommendation for satin finish restoration

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rlewpolar

Joined
Oct 4, 2022
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Can anyone recommend me someone to refinish my Lionsteel to it’s original satin finish?

Short (long?) story; recently ordered and received a new Lionsteel M1 knife in M390 steel. Beautiful little blade and one I’ve been looking for for a while. They are just not available anywhere for some reason, unlike other Lionsteel models which are all over the place online. Finally located one from a small mom and pop type shop online and ordered it. When I received it, it was already in its leather sheath. Pulled it out and holy cow, it was all scratched up. Like pretty badly marred. Got in contact with the owner and she swears up and down that the blade was pristine when it left the shop and she would have never let it go out like that. She sounded sincere enough and she partially refunded me about 25% so can’t complain too much. She suggested it might be the sheath. Maybe something got lodged in there and scratched the blade. Who knows? 🤷‍♂️. Looked down into the sheath but it’s a small little leather number and I can’t see anything. I contact Lionsteel in Italy and they said no way that the leather sheath would cause scratches like that but they will honor the warranty. Just send it back (they will only accept parcels from FedEx and UPS). Problem is, it’s $95 to send it this way 🤦‍♂️

So, anyone know anyone stateside I can send the blade to for a refinish? I would think with all the talented knifemakers on this forum, someone might be able to do this? I could always just use this knife as a beater but Lionsteels always look so aesthetically pleasing to my eye so hoping to restore this one. Thanks for listening
 
rlewpolar said:
Can anyone recommend me someone to refinish my Lionsteel to it’s original satin finish?

Short (long?) story; recently ordered and received a new Lionsteel M1 knife in M390 steel. Beautiful little blade and one I’ve been looking for for a while. They are just not available anywhere for some reason, unlike other Lionsteel models which are all over the place online. Finally located one from a small mom and pop type shop online and ordered it. When I received it, it was already in its leather sheath. Pulled it out and holy cow, it was all scratched up. Like pretty badly marred. Got in contact with the owner and she swears up and down that the blade was pristine when it left the shop and she would have never let it go out like that. She sounded sincere enough and she partially refunded me about 25% so can’t complain too much. She suggested it might be the sheath. Maybe something got lodged in there and scratched the blade. Who knows? 🤷‍♂️. Looked down into the sheath but it’s a small little leather number and I can’t see anything. I contact Lionsteel in Italy and they said no way that the leather sheath would cause scratches like that but they will honor the warranty. Just send it back (they will only accept parcels from FedEx and UPS). Problem is, it’s $95 to send it this way 🤦‍♂️

So, anyone know anyone stateside I can send the blade to for a refinish? I would think with all the talented knifemakers on this forum, someone might be able to do this? I could always just use this knife as a beater but Lionsteels always look so aesthetically pleasing to my eye so hoping to restore this one. Thanks for listening
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Pictures of the damage?
 
rlewpolar said:
Got in contact with the owner and she swears up and down that the blade was pristine when it left the shop and she would have never let it go out like that. She sounded sincere enough and she partially refunded me about 25% so can’t complain too much. She suggested it might be the sheath.
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Is the "she" you keep referring to, Andrea? If so, Andrea is a he. :)
 
rlewpolar said:
No, this was a Jennifer and I talked with her over the phone. Definitely a woman although these days, who knows 🤷‍♂️
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Ah, sorry. I misread your post and thought you contacted Lionsteel. I understand now that you contacted the mom and pop shop.

That scratching is brutal. It certainly didn't leave Lionsteel like that. Draw your own conclusions. :)
 
Looks like dirt or debris in the sheath maybe?
Anyhow, what they call a satin finish looks like a series of fine parallel lines, whats more properly called a glaze finish. You can probably clean it up pretty well using some fine grit sand paper (you'd need to match the grit size) if you're careful.
 
Are you planning on using the knife or displaying it? Because it's going to get scuffed up if you use it.

It's also possible that the sheath has debris in it and will continue to scratch the blade.
 
tokerblue said:
Are you planning on using the knife or displaying it? Because it's going to get scuffed up if you use it.

It's also possible that the sheath has debris in it and will continue to scratch the blade.
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Yes, I thought of that. No way I’m sticking that knife back in that sheath if I do get the blade refinished. Probably order an Armatus sheath for it . It would be an EDC knife so I take your point. That blade is hard on the eyes at the moment though.
 
rlewpolar said:
Yes, I thought of that. No way I’m sticking that knife back in that sheath if I do get the blade refinished. Probably order an Armatus sheath for it . It would be an EDC knife so I take your point. That blade is hard on the eyes at the moment though.
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It's a $150 knife. I would just use it and not give it another thought.
 
I have access to a glass bead blast booth as well as Aluminum oxide blast booth. I am not a knife maker, I am a electro plater. I work in airline maintenance, our tolerances are pretty tight. If you are interested, I would mask areas not to be worked and blast the blade. You pay postage and insurance both ways, I will be more than happy to help free of charge.You could give me your number and i would send pictures until you are satisfied then return the knife to you. Troy
 
pholder said:
I have access to a glass bead blast booth as well as Aluminum oxide blast booth. I am not a knife maker, I am a electro plater. I work in airline maintenance, our tolerances are pretty tight. If you are interested, I would mask areas not to be worked and blast the blade. You pay postage and insurance both ways, I will be more than happy to help free of charge.You could give me your number and i would send pictures until you are satisfied then return the knife to you. Troy
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Thank you! This is very nice of you! I will take you up on it. Good folks on this forum. My contact info is ronaldalew@gmail.com. Shoot me an email and I’ll respond. Thanks again
 
Just an update following my original post; one of the members here in the above thread (Pholder) graciously offered to bead blast the blade to remove the scratches. By pure coincidence, it turns out he lives 50 miles down the road from me. Anyway, just got the knife back from him and he did a superb job! He used a glass bead medium and the effect is a ghostly matte finish which in my opinion is better than the original shiny satin finish. We decided to blast the maker name on the blade as well and since the writing was etched, it was preserved perfectly sans coloring. It’s too bad my phone can’t capture how well this came out but here is a before and after picture. For those who have scratched blades that you want to restore, consider bead blasting, something I never considered. Thanks Troy!

https://imgur.com/a/sji0KAT
https://imgur.com/a/mMVRedH
 
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