Refinish Composite?

[james alfred]

Hello Everyone,
I'm new here so if this question is in the wrong place please move it, or if it's been asked before please direct me to it. My question is does anyone know what a person could use (no machines, hand work only) to remove the hair scratches on composite handle knives? By composite I mean like Case's yellow handled knives or the smooth black they used on the Sod Buster and some of their other knives. The knives are unused, uncarried and still have the factory edge and are from the 1970 era. The knives don't have any scars or deep scratches, they have scratches that are as small as human hair. The scratches are the result of the knives being laid down on their back side and being moved around for what ever reason. These scratches aren't on the marked/shield side of the knife, they're only on the back side. You can't really see them unless you hold the knives in your hands and turn them a certain way for the light to allow you to see them. You can't feel the scratches with your fingers. Any ideals on how to remove them? Maybe some super fine grit sand paper or some kind of fine polish? Would the use of either of these remove the factory shine and leave the handle with a dull look? There has to be a way to remove them as I'm sure Case has to touch up some of the yellow composite handled knives because of little accidents that causes a scratch before they leave the Case factory. I know Case probably uses a machine to do these touch ups but it could be done by hand that would take longer to do, which is why Case would use a machine to do it. Any help or ideals would be appreciated. Thank you very much.
Regards,
James

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Simichrome polishing paste on a coarse cloth will take out minute scratches. It will take some elbow grease to achieve a high polish with Simichrome, but it can be done.

 

[siguy]

I have heard that you can use toothpaste to polish the scratched plastic "crystal" on cheap watches (the clear face that you look through to see the time), and I imagine it would work for the plastic knife handles too... I have never tried it though, so I don't know how well it will work.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I have heard that you can use toothpaste to polish the scratched plastic "crystal" on cheap watches (the clear face that you look through to see the time), and I imagine it would work for the plastic knife handles too... I have never tried it though, so I don't know how well it will work.

I had an inexpensive electronic stopwatch with a plastic 'crystal' on it. Within weeks after I'd bought it, I noticed some relatively fine scratches across the crystal. It just so happened that I had just finished freshening up my strop block with some red razor stropping paste, and used a paper towel to wipe some of the excess paste from the strop. The stopwatch was laying on the table, and I picked it up and used my fingertip in the paper towel with the paste to buff the scratches out of the plastic. Worked perfectly. Scratches were completely removed as if they'd never been there in the first place.

I suppose this would work for composite knife handles (delrin or nylon) too, at least for some of the lighter scuffs. For the heavier ones, might try some fine steel wool or a Scotch-Brite pad (scrub VERY LIGHTLY of course), and then finish with some polishing compound or stropping paste as described above. If the paste or compound is colored some way, it might be worth testing a very small area with the compound, to make sure the compound won't stain the handle. I don't think it would, but better safe than sorry...