Scratched a Damascus Blade

[uilleann]

I just had to have one damascus blade in my folder collection. I found a pretty one,a Scout, maded by Boker. Got it home and put a big wide mirror edge that goes from 15-20 degrees (multiple micro edges). Sharp as hell. I cleaned it up and was admiring it and then noticed that I had put about a dozen faint 1/4" long scratches on it, above the edge and into the damascus flat, from not being careful with the sharpening system.

Damn!!!!

So is my only reasonable course of action to just live with it??

It looks like what I would have to do would be disassemble the pinned knife, sand the whole blade, and then etch it again and sand. Then re-pin it. Sounds like lots of opportunity to totally trash the knife.

 

[uilleann]

Here are a couple of pics of the scratches. You have to look closely and have the right from the right angle..... but its all I can see now.....

 

[Lapedog]

If you were never planning on using the knife why sharpen it?

 

[eKretz]

You might be able to get away with just selectively re-etching if the scratches aren't very deep. You could even etch the whole blade if you wanted, it would just darken the darker part of the etch a bit. A little hand rubbing with a wet cotton cloth after etching and it will look just like new again. I did this with a couple Case pattern welded folders after thinning a couple of the blades. If your Boker is carbon steel, Ferric Chloride makes a good etchant. If it's stainless, muriatic (hydrochloric) acid will do the trick.