Refinish the damascus pattern?

J

jontis

Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Messages
4
I accidently put a very bad scratch in the side of a shun classic.
I was able to remove it with fine abrasive cloth but the finish is now more towards mirror finish and the wavy damascus pattern is now very faint.

Is it possible to get the pattern back or was this just surface finish that is now lost for good?

Best
Jonathan
 
Seeing as how the Shun Knives are clad in stainless I'd guess there is no way to etch it so you are probably stuck with a great knife that merely looks extremely nice. I could be wrong though. 2brothers seems to be the resident Shun expert and I'm sure he will be along before long.
 
My Shun Santoku has a few blemishes because I've washed it 1000 times.
I'm not really going for the looks of it at the moment. As long as it keeps
performing like it has been, it could be polka-dotted and it wouldn't bother me.

The few 'blemishes' I stated are just slightly faint ares were the layers
are not as visible as they once were.

I for one, don't plan on 'fixing' them at the moment. I use them too often
to stop and do it, and I don't want any chemicals on them unless I can be
certain that they'll all come off.

I thought about it, but then thought about cleaning them up afterward and
wondered if I'd end up rubbing away what I just fixed. HA! I don't know.

If you want to get the patter back there is a solution.
I must post a link from Knife Forums because it's the best tutorial
I have ever seen to re-etch a blade with. There might be better, but haven't see one.
http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/798351/

Hope that link doesn't offend anyone.

BTW, Welcome to BladeForums jontis

mike
 
Great write-up. Thanks for helping me find it.

Included in it was also this link that I think is worth posting here:
http://www.devinthomas.com/heat.html

They didn't say but I assume that the knives has to be resharpened after the etching process is finished.

And thanks for the welcome :-)

Thinking out loud now, I assume the pattern that is developed by the etching is already built into the steel. The etching process will only affect the constrast and darkness of the pattern.

What do you think about this?
 
jontis....i am a regular poster over at kf and have seen knives etched that were similar in construction to the shuns.....it doesn't have a factory look to it.....it helps if you have a buffer to run across your blade....and yes it will need some sharpening after you etch it.....it does take a scratched up blade and put a clean perfect finish on it though....looks great....just not 100 percent factory.....hope that helps....ryan
 
jontis said:
Thinking out loud now, I assume the pattern that is developed by the etching is already built into the steel. The etching process will only affect the constrast and darkness of the pattern.

What do you think about this?
Click to expand...

I think you answered your own question. :thumbup:

mike
 
As I'm totally unable to keep my hands from where they don't belong, I've started experimenting with re-etching the blade pattern.

I was hoping that normal household acetic acid would do it because of the availability and ease of disposal but it didn't cut it.

I'm now waiting for the Fe-Cl granulate I ordered (normally used to etch circuit boards). I'll keep you posted.
 
jontis said:
As I'm totally unable to keep my hands from where they don't belong, I've started experimenting with re-etching the blade pattern.

I was hoping that normal household acetic acid would do it because of the availability and ease of disposal but it didn't cut it.

I'm now waiting for the Fe-Cl granulate I ordered (normally used to etch circuit boards). I'll keep you posted.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update. Please continue on when it's time.

mike
 
I got in touch with kershaw's customer support on the issues.

They told me that they are indeed etched in Iron Cloride to bring out the damascus pattern as I intend to do. They also advised against trying this at home but I'll take my chances and start with the smallest cheapest knife ;)
Kershaw did offer to try to refinish them for me but this has turned into a hobby project so I'm going along out of curiosity.

The prep before etching is not done by polishing. It is instead done by blasting with glass beads. Not sure about specifics about the bead sizes or the blasting pressure. This does explain the dull finish without any scratch marks. Anyways, I don't have access to a blasting cabinet so I'll try by polishing with a buffing wheel before the etch. I'll keep you posted.
 
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