Refinishing a Sebenza

[Dan Harris]

Has anyone refinished the titanium scales on a Sebenza?

I just bought a used small Sebenza to keep my CR knives company.

Chris Reeve Knives would refinish the scales for a small fee, but I was thinking about something other than the standard bead blasting.

I've never worked with titanium before. Any ideas / advice on smooth polishing, scotchbrite or any other finishes? Preferably those that can be done with hand tools or a Dremel

Thanks.



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Dan Harris
danharris@ibm.net

 

[Spark]

At the 1999 SHOT show, Chris Reeve and I had an interesting conversation about putting finishes on his folders, and the gist of it was be very, very careful, because they are made to extremely tight tolerences and an aftermarket finish could possibly have bad side effects.

I'd suggest emailing/calling Anne or Chris and discussing this with them, they are very easy to talk to.

Spark

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Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com

Insert witty quip here

 

[Dan Harris]

Thanks Spark.

I am thinking more about either polishing the scales smooth or a brushed scotchbrite type of finish.

I don't think that this would change the dimensions as would an applied coating, such at Black T, NP3 or teflon.

If I screw up, I can always have CR rebead blast the scales

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Dan Harris
danharris@ibm.net

 

[Ralf]

I asked the same question in the Chris Reeve forum and nobody answered. Not shy when it comes to improving my knives I just took some 600 grid sandpaper and polished the titanium slabs of my pre-owned Sebenza by hand using a lot of water. You wonder why in hell would anybody do that? Well, the Sebenza being used had some scratches on the clip and was shiny on the edges from carrying. The result of my effort was surprisingly good. The titanium gets a nice luster and feels very smooth and warm in your hand. It doesn’t look used anymore.
I polished the in- and outsides of the handle slabs and the clip after disassembling the knife. If you do that, you have to be careful not to do the inside of the holes for the screws and the surface of the locking bar where it touches the blade when engaged. You don’t want to take material away from those parts otherwise you could alter the fit. I would also leave the grooves on the bottom for the fingers rough, since the polishing makes the knife more slippery than the bead blasted surface. If you polish the handle and want to use the knife with wet hands, I would recommend a checkering of the left handle slab. It is cheap and makes your knife quite unique (satin finish and checkered!)