Removing scratched from a finished knife with hamon

Jonas Liebel

Jonas Liebel

Joined
Jan 20, 2018
Messages
34
Hi there folks,

I managed to get some deep 600grit scratches into my finished highly polished blade with hamon, and now I'm trying to figure out the best way of repolishing the damn thing.

Is there a simpler solution than resanding and reetching the entire blade? And how will I go about not putting the handle scales into the acid?

If anyone has been in a similar situation and knows what to do, please feel free to let me know. :)

Best wishes,

Jonas

IMG_20181221_112324 (Custom).jpg
 
I wouldn't start by going back to the grinder, but definitely back to hand sanding. Start at 400 grit and see if you can get the scratches out. If not go down to 220, if not that, then go to the grinder.

To re-etch and re-polish, use nail polish on the flats, then put the blade in the etchant just slightly past the plunge. That way you will not have to mess with polishing on the ricasso with the scales on.
 
Go to the grinder, finer grit, 220/400, and use it as a shop knife. Removing the scales, refinishing, and putting new scales on will cost almost as much as just starting over, especially when time is calculated. The hamon is mediocre, (no insult 8ntended, but if it was a knockout, my response would be different.) so time is to be considered.
 
If it was me id just start using the heck out of it. Let a nice patina build and enjoy that knife. Its pretty sweet. After some hard use whats a few 600 grit scratches gonna matter?
 
Willie71 said:
Go to the grinder, finer grit, 220/400, and use it as a shop knife. Removing the scales, refinishing, and putting new scales on will cost almost as much as just starting over, especially when time is calculated. The hamon is mediocre, (no insult 8ntended, but if it was a knockout, my response would be different.) so time is to be considered.
Click to expand...
Why on grinder if he use it as shop knife ??
 
If you really do want to "save" it, which I think would be worth a try, just re-hand sand the bevels as suggested and use a multi cycle vinegar to etch by warming it up a bit, mixing in a bit of dish soap to break surface tension and using a cotton makeup pad apply it to the bevel. I do like the nail polish on the flats idea, as it could help save you the trouble of having to sand around the angled scale fronts, but you could remove to do the vinegar etch (so it's all the same shade) since you don't need clean finish strokes to polish the etch as you do when sanding. Some tape on the front of the scales while rubbing on the vinegar should be enough to keep them from getting too wet.

~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Just some older videos of some older knives I've made in the past)
 
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