restoring the satin finish Tidioute GEC blade

[Camillus]

I have a couple of GEC Tidioute knives with very slight scuff marks in the blade, and am unsure how to restore the finish. I guess metal polish will simply polish the blade, which will look uneven given the scuff marks are only in one spot. Help much appreciated.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Use some 320-400 grit wet/dry sandpaper laid flat & tight to a hard surface (glass, stone or hardwood), and lay the blade flush to it and 'strop' the blade in linear edge-trailing strokes over the sandpaper. Maintain the direction of stroke perpendicular to the length of the blade, to emulate the spine-to-edge grind marks from the factory finish. Make sure the paper is held flush to the hard surface, so it doesn't move; results will be much better that way. IF the blade has a little bit of convexity to the grind (photo seems to show it), a layer or two of plain paper underneath the sandpaper will provide just a little 'give' to allow the sandpaper to conform to the blade's surface profile. I recommend 320 or 400 grit, because that usually emulates that factory 'satin' finish on most blades pretty closely; I favor the 320 for such a finish.

Metal polish will 'brighten' the affected area without really removing any scratches (they're too deep); so, they'll likely just be more visible when polished.


David

 

[d.weglarz13]

^^^^^This. The paper trick is nice too.

Just remember to try to keep the side of the blade nice a flat on the stone or paper, without changing the angle or pressure. Nice and easy, just let your hands rest on the knife and let the paper work.

Do not stop in the middle of a stroke, and done change direction either. Nice long smooth strokes all the way from the spine to the edge, then lift up, wipe with soft clean rag, do another pass. Few times should get you looking good again, if not, do a few more.

Be careful not to roll your wrists or you will get a nice little convex edge instead of the v edge.

On that knife just be sure to keep the side of the blade nice and flat as you go, you should be fine.

And start right above the sharpening notch at the base of the cutting edge, don't try to get the tang where the stamp is. That is a different angle, and trickier to get close to the bolsters. From the sharpening notch to tip, just keep that a flat plane and you'll be happy I think.

 

[Camillus]

thanks I'll give this a go. I assume GEC will help if I somehow make a mess of this