Restoring brass bolsters

Hector Caroselli

Hector Caroselli

Joined
Jul 30, 2020
Messages
14
Hello,

I was directed to this forum from rimfirecentral.com so I became a member here. My name is Hector and I live in the Pacific Northwest, US.

Recently I looked at a couple of old Buck knives I have, 110 and 112. They are approximately 40 years old and had been in a drawer, in leather sheaths for many years. As you might guess the brass bolsters were very tarnished so I did what may be considered unthinkable. I used a metal polish called Simichrome to remove the tarnish. It worked fine only now the bolsters are well, polished. Originally they had a nice satin finish. Have I done something irreversible or is there any way to get the satin finish back?

Any suggestions will be most appreciated.
Thank you.
Hector
 
I think 40 year old knives would have polished bolsters. If you sent to Buck they would polish as well which is offered using their SPA service.
 
Welcome! I am familiar with Simichrome polish. I personally use Mothers. Both good products. I also have 2 112's made in the 72-74 era and the brass will polish up.
And any 110/112 I have purchased new has had polished bolsters. Enjoy the shine!
 
Thank you for the speedy and helpful replies. My age must be showing and my CRS (can't remember sh*t) is kicking in. I sure thought those bolsters had a satin finish but thanks to you and looking at a video at the Buck web site it appears they are indeed polished. Thanks again.

Yup, that Simichrome polish might be older than my Buck knives. We used it to polish cases and carbs on our old Triumph motorcycles.
 
(A) Send to Buck for the SPA service. They will come back looking like new.
If they are 40 or more years old, they will have 440C (or possibly 425M starting approximately 1982 or 1983).
If you get new blades, they will be the current standard 425HC with a recent date code.
Anyway, sharpening comes with the SPA service. Trust me. Specify the "Edge 2000" specifications; not the "Historically Accurate" "Period Correct" specifications, unless these will be display only never to be used again safe queens/shelf kings, and you fret about such details.
With Edge 2000, they will cut and slice much better, and be much easier to resharpen yourself when needed (The Edge 2000 edge bevel is 28° to 32° inclusive (30° +/- 2 ° is the manufacturing tolerance) Prior to Edge 2000 the edge bevel was 50 to 60 degrees inclusive. Sometimes the edges got rounded from the polishing method then used.

(B) Tape off the wood at the bolster to prevent any metal polish from staining it.
Using a rag: BRASSO or whatever your preferred metal polish is.

As others have stated, the 110/112 never had brushed bolsters. They've always been highly polished fingerprint and smudge magnets. :(
If you have brushed bolsters, you can thank a former owner who had a little 220 to 320 grit sand paper/emery cloth, or a "coarse" Scotchbrite pad.
The "good news" is hitting the bolsters with 220~320 grit sandpaper/emery cloth or a Scotchbrite pad to eliminate that accursed highly polished fingerprint and smudge magnet finish does not affect the warranty. :)

No, I detest fingerprint and smudge magnets. I have ... um ... "de-shined" ... more than one of my Buck 110's ... Old Timer 6OT/7OT's, Uncle Henry LB7 ... stockmans ... scout/camp knives ... Barlow's ...
 
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As said above your Buck knives had a high polished finish when they left the factory. Like most brass the bolsters will tarnish with time, it could be when you bought the knives they had already started to get a patina of tarnish. Therefore, you may have never known the factory finish was shining and polished. Just wait the patina will return with time if that is how you want your knives to look.

I like my brass to be shinning and bright! Also, welcome to the Buck section of the Blade Forums.
 
afishhunter said:
(A) Send to Buck for the SPA service. They will come back looking like new.
If they are 40 or more years old, they will have 440C (or possibly 425M starting approximately 1982 or 1983).
If you get new blades, they will be the current standard 425HC with a recent date code.
Anyway, sharpening comes with the SPA service. Trust me. Specify the "Edge 2000" specifications; not the "Historically Accurate" "Period Correct" specifications, unless these will be display only never to be used again safe queens/shelf kings, and you fret about such details.
With Edge 2000, they will cut and slice much better, and be much easier to resharpen yourself when needed (The Edge 2000 edge bevel is 28° to 32° inclusive (30° +/- 2 ° is the manufacturing tolerance) Prior to Edge 2000 the edge bevel was 50 to 60 degrees inclusive. Sometimes the edges got rounded from the polishing method then used.

(B) Tape off the wood at the bolster to prevent any metal polish from staining it.
Using a rag: BRASSO or whatever your preferred metal polish is.

As others have stated, the 110/112 never had brushed bolsters. They've always been highly polished fingerprint and smudge magnets. :(
If you have brushed bolsters, you can thank a former owner who had a little 220 to 320 grit sand paper/emery cloth, or a "coarse" Scotchbrite pad.
The "good news" is hitting the bolsters with 220~320 grit sandpaper/emery cloth or a Scotchbrite pad to eliminate that accursed highly polished fingerprint and smudge magnet finish does not affect the warranty. :)

No, I detest fingerprint and smudge magnets. I have ... um ... "de-shined" ... more than one of my Buck 110's ... Old Timer 6OT/7OT's, Uncle Henry LB7 ... stockmans ... scout/camp knives ... Barlow's ...
Click to expand...
newer stuff but bladehq had some 110 and 112 autos w/brushed brass bolsters and micarta. gpknives had the burlap auto with brushed brass bolsters. maybe more special runs.
 
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jbmonkey said:
newer stuff but bladehq had some 110 and 112 autos w/brushed brass bolsters and micarta. gpknives had the burlap auto with brushed brass bolsters. maybe more special runs.
Click to expand...
True. However, no standard production 110/112. :(
I wonder how much savings in time (and thus lower costs) would be saved if the bolsters on the folding knives, and the guards and pommel on the fixed blades were left unpolished to a mirror finish.
Probably not enough to make a difference at retail ...
 
Thanks again to all who contributed a wealth of good information. This forum is a good place to hang out and if it is anything like rimfirecentral.com I am guessing there are people who can help me spend more money. I may look into the SPA treatment. I will work on sending pictures. They are pretty pristine and I suppose that is good but they would be cool if they had some battle scars too.
 
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Hector Caroselli said:
Thank you for the speedy and helpful replies. My age must be showing and my CRS (can't remember sh*t) is kicking in. I sure thought those bolsters had a satin finish but thanks to you and looking at a video at the Buck web site it appears they are indeed polished. Thanks again.

Yup, that Simichrome polish might be older than my Buck knives. We used it to polish cases and carbs on our old Triumph motorcycles.
Click to expand...

LOL... I FINALLY used up my 30 year old large tube of Semichrome last year. That was the gold standard back then in the day for polishing up the aluminum side cases, carbs and maintaining chrome (remember when fenders were chrome?) on motorcycles.
 
I think they looked great before ( just my preference) but you sure did a good job polishing them back up.

I polish my brass once in a blue moon ( they just patina back up extremely quickly with me so it's not often ) but just using some mothers mag and a rag I don't get this good of a result.
:thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
Hector Caroselli said:
Hello,

I was directed to this forum from rimfirecentral.com so I became a member here. My name is Hector and I live in the Pacific Northwest, US.

Recently I looked at a couple of old Buck knives I have, 110 and 112. They are approximately 40 years old and had been in a drawer, in leather sheaths for many years. As you might guess the brass bolsters were very tarnished so I did what may be considered unthinkable. I used a metal polish called Simichrome to remove the tarnish. It worked fine only now the bolsters are well, polished. Originally they had a nice satin finish. Have I done something irreversible or is there any way to get the satin finish back?

Any suggestions will be most appreciated.
Thank you.
Hector
Click to expand...

When I polished my bolsters, it only took a month or so for the tarnish/patina to set in and get that satin look. IMO, it will get that look in short order. Just use it as normal.
 
My 110 and 112 are that age and I've always used Brasso in the past, but more recently Flitz or Case Paste. (My can of Brasso is as old as the knives.) Last year I switched to Buck's polyester/nylon sheaths and that solved the problem once and for all. :D
 
caquino said:
LOL... I FINALLY used up my 30 year old large tube of Semichrome last year. That was the gold standard back then in the day for polishing up the aluminum side cases, carbs and maintaining chrome (remember when fenders were chrome?) on motorcycles.
Click to expand...
Before fenders were chrome or stainless, they were metal and painted; not plastic like today. My 1965 Bonneville had painted metal fenders. I may be wrong but I think it was 1968 when the Bonneville had stainless steel or chrome fenders and we considered it sacrilege.
 
Finally took pictures of my 2 Buck knives. After thinking about this I believe the 110 is more like 50 years old. The 112 is not quite that old but not far behind. I saw references in some replies to a factory SPA treatment. I sent an email to Buck asking about this but have not heard back yet. Seems like most things take extra time these days. Does anyone know if they still offer that service and what are the prices?

Thanks again for the helpful suggestions.
Hector

Buck4.jpeg Buck3.jpeg
 
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