Removing Powder Coating from SOG Seal Team Knife

[Vanguard.45]

Anyone done this???

I know many people use chemicals such as Permatex Gasket Remover, but have heard that this stuff can eat into the rubber handle of a knife like a SOG Seal knife.

What does the blade look like without the powder coating? Is it satin finished? Also, how rust resistant is AUS-8 steel?

I love the lines of the SOG Seal knife, but would like a satin finished blade. I figure if I remove the powder coating, then polishing her up wouldn't be too much of a chore.

If anyone has any other methods of removing the powder coating on the SOG knives or has used a chemical successfully to remove it, please post pics for us to see.

Thanks in advance,

Vanguard.45

 

[spidyman]

One the handle is Zytel and not rubber. You would have much better luck using a coating striper such as Mar-Hyde's Aircraft coating remover. its a paint on gel and works quick.

AUS-8 is a Japanese made steel, its a high chromium stainless steel so its rather rust resistant under most circumstances.

 

[goldie]

Quote (What does the blade look like without the powder coating?) that is the only problem.its anyones guess it might be roughly finished,or it might be smooth. the powder coat sog uses seems different that cold steel,for example,which was more of a krinkle coat.cold steel also uses teflon.i just removed the black teflon coat from a cold steel recon 1. luckily, the blade finish was very smooth,just needed lots of polishing. it really came out nice.the sog coating might be harder to remove, especially by the tang & handle.dlc is hard to remove,too, as well as some other black finishes which seem to be burned into the metal,making it harder to sand or polish out.ive polished benchmades pocket clips & hardware, that finish takes a bit to remove but as far as parts go,they wind up being smooth....

 

[Stenitel]

Goldie, I have wanted to remove the black coating from recon 1: how did you manage it? Would be grateful to hear how you accomplished this.
TIA

 

[tabeeb762]

If it is an epoxy coating you can remove it pretty easily by rubbing with an Acetone soaked rag. Thy this first, before using the harsher stripper.

To avoid getting stripper on kraton wrap the handle with cling film.

A good stripper will remove any coating I've tried so far.
I use Hempel's 99440. Good stuff, but you have to special order it.
The gel stripper you find on hardware store shelves does the job just as well.

 

[maxBirdy]

Apologies for the necro bump but I have a solution and it is not something I have found anywhere else online.

The formula for the Permatex gasket remover has been changed to a less caustic one, it no longer strips things like the previous formula.
Rustoleum Aircraft remover seems to be some powerful stuff, but it also fails to remove the coating on the SOG Seal team.

I wanted to remove the coating completely after using the knife out in the field and watching it's coating slowly rub off, I do not have a picture but the knife looked pretty bad.

After unsuccessfully trying strippers and whatnot, I decided to go for a more aggressive approach. A dremel w/ wire wheel, a new razor blade and two grits of sandpaper (320 and 600). I used the dremel wire wheel to grind away at the coating, and the razor blade to scrape away the heavy stuff from the flat areas near the hilt. Then I used the 320 grit and dry sanded it till it was naked. Then finished with the 600 grit to "polish it up a bit". Then I buffed it with polishing compound and a felt wheel with my dremel. Lastly I used some 3 in 1 to oil up the blade and wiped it down until there was no residue left and most of the oil removed as well.

This was the result:

I'm not sure what the terminology is for them, but the "angles" in the blade have been polished to an almost mirror finish (would need higher grit to achieve mirror), the blade itself retained its "satin" finish. I think it makes the knife look unique.

 

[aussiebeef]

Hi maxBirdy, I'm interested in stripping the powder coat on a sog seal pup but was unsure of the results. Would you kindly repost the picture you had originally posted? It seems like it is no longer available.