Scratched nickel silver bolster/guard mod

[Gary W. Graley]

With highly polished nickel silver bolsters/guard or even stainless steel bolsters, they can be marred fairly quickly with moderate use. One thing that I find that helps is a bit of Scotchbrite to apply a brushed finished to the bolsters. On this Civivi fixed blade, the sheath I made for it is a pouch sheath, so as I insert the knife into the sheath the leather can abrade the nickel silver guard pretty quickly, right along the edge. An unsightly look but not much you can do to prevent it, even if I lined the inside with some soft material the nickel would still show telltale marks as it brushes up against it.
So, I take some scotchbrite, after taping around the handle material and the blade, it is ONE sharp blade...so that's dangerous! And then using the scotchbrite I brush the guard in one direction towards the blade, don't try rubbing it around, just straight forward pushes so the brushed finish looks uniform. This will give a pleasing look to the guard and also help hide marks from inserting it into the sheath as the lines you create go in the same direction.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

here's a folder that I did the same treatment to it's bolsters

I use a small bit of Scotchbrite pad and the technique is to only move in one straight direction, don't be swirling around like crazy as that will make it look, well, swirly/crazy.

I put some painter's tape tight across the bottom of the bolster, this helps to keep you off the scale and any dust from getting into the mechanics of the folder.

Now the medallion or bar on this one is less prone to abuse from pocket carry as compared to the bolsters, so for me, I like keeping that ONE part mirror polished up. I use some green polishing compound rubbed onto the corner of a folded bit of napkin and carefully rubbing it smooth until polished up, wiping down with the clean section of the napkin to clear it up.

Now I know some of you guys and gals are not as particular about such looks and will find this totally unnecessary, and I think you're probably right and good on ya but the OCD in me just likes neat and tidy when I can. Hmm that reminds me, my wife wants me to clean up my area of the house....I'll get to that at some point

a before shot, this knife rode in my watch pocket, not bouncing around in a main pocket, but as you can see it gathered some carry marks even from that.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

bit of Scotchbrite and painters tape

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

and here's the polishing of the bar/medallion using a napkin folded up tight and some polishing compound rubbed into it,

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

ending up with this, which makes a nice carry and as you can see, easily maintained. You don't have to do this very often, just when the mood strikes you.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

G2

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I'm also a big fan of Scotch-Brite (green) for this sort of thing.

All the knives pictured below were originally high-polished on the bolsters & frames. Looks nice when brand new, but they otherwise showed every scratch, scuff & fingerprint against that shiny finish. The satin finish left by the Scotch-Brite does a nice job hiding most of that, whether on brass, nickel silver or even stainless steel. And it's very easy to restore it when the satin gets a little scuffed itself. Much easier than trying to maintain a perfect polish on knives that get carried & used regularly. Below, a couple of Bucks (112 & 111), a Hen & Rooster stockman which originally had some sort of deep corrosion on one of the bolsters - I sanded that off and then Scotch-Brite'd it with the intent of repolishing - but decided I liked the look of the Scotch-Brite finish better, so I left it that way and did the rest of the bolsters as well. And the last one is a custom stainless-bolstered lockback by Ray Cover, which took a little more gumption on my part to alter it - but I've not regretted doing that at all.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

It may be just as easy to polish the parts as necessary. That's basically what you are doing with the Scotchbrite- just not as shiny.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

No doubt polished finish is impressive, but most people wouldn’t have access to be able to do the polishing.
G2

 

[RickHuf]

I just did this to a new Bear and Son large Barlow.

The blade and bolster was so polished up that it was a fingerprint magnet and showed every scratch. It just didn't look good.

I use the grey scotchbrite, it works well for nickel bolsters and will knock the shine off of a high polished blade. It gives a nice satin finish with a dab of oil and little elbow grease.

 

[Crag the Brewer]

Note to self, for when I start guards and bolsters!
Thanks.

 

[SharpBits]

Thanks Gary W. Graley for posting. I have a few old knives that need some renovating and I was unsure which color pad to use.

On a side note, my friend touches up his S&W revolver with a scotchbright pad.

Edited to fix typos.

 

[eveled]

A green scotch bright pad is one of those things that is always on my bench.

 

[eveled]

It does seem ironic.

“I don’t like the scratches, I’m going to add a million more scratches so I can’t see the scratches anymore.”

Camouflage at it’s best.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Re: the camouflage aspect of hiding scratches among scratches...

I've also appreciated satin or 'as ground' finishes on multiblade traditional folders as well. In such folders, if there's any blade rub at all between closely spaced blades, a high polish on the blades will reveal every blemish left by the rubs between the blades. But a relatively coarse satin or as-ground finish does a much better job hiding those blemishes.

 

[TheOne45]

No doubt polished finish is impressive, but most people wouldn’t have access to be able to do the polishing.

It's not so hard and complicated.
For small polishing work I use a cheap dremel with rpm control, a few buffing wheels and a cheap set of polishing compounds.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Options are good
G2

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

My issue with polishing doesn't really have anything to do with how easy it is to do, or not. Polishing itself is simple enough to accomplish. I've usually just done it with a microfiber towel or a clean, old T-shirt and some polishing paste, by hand. I did once use a Dremel with a cotton buff using green compound, as part of the process when I cleaned up the bolsters on the Buck 112 I pictured earlier. When I started and finished that project, it looked as pictured below. The bolsters originally had some fairly heavy dings which needed some aggressive sanding to remove, before I polished it out. And I was very happy and proud of that work on that knife - it looked better than I'd anticipated when I finished. But for my knives that get carried, handled and used on a regular basis, a perfect scratch-free/fingerprint-free polish just doesn't last beyond the first handling, and that's what I ran into with that Buck 112. New prints & scratches come almost immediately and stand out, which means I can either tolerate looking at them for awhile, or repolish everything after each day's use.

Before:

After:

With the Scotch-Brite finish, the handling scratches & prints don't stand out so glaringly, and I'm much more comfortable waiting for some time (up to months) before I'm tempted to dress up the finish again. That's what I mean when I say the satin Scotch-Brite finish is easier to maintain, on a much less frequent basis, than is maintaining a polish on my knives. I worked my way to a compromise over some time, to settle on the more practical user-friendly finish afforded by the Scotch-Brite method.

 

[TheOne45]

I was just trying to say polishing by itself is not so complicated, hard and inaccessible process.
Basically you can do almost any finish at home.
There is just your decision, what finish do you like more.

 

[killgar]

My issue with polishing doesn't really have anything to do with how easy it is to do, or not. Polishing itself is simple enough to accomplish. I've usually just done it with a microfiber towel or a clean, old T-shirt and some polishing paste, by hand. I did once use a Dremel with a cotton buff using green compound, as part of the process when I cleaned up the bolsters on the Buck 112 I pictured earlier. When I started and finished that project, it looked as pictured below. The bolsters originally had some fairly heavy dings which needed some aggressive sanding to remove, before I polished it out. And I was very happy and proud of that work on that knife - it looked better than I'd anticipated when I finished. But for my knives that get carried, handled and used on a regular basis, a perfect scratch-free/fingerprint-free polish just doesn't last beyond the first handling, and that's what I ran into with that Buck 112. New prints & scratches come almost immediately and stand out, which means I can either tolerate looking at them for awhile, or repolish everything after each day's use.

Before:

After:

With the Scotch-Brite finish, the handling scratches & prints don't stand out so glaringly, and I'm much more comfortable waiting for some time (up to months) before I'm again tempted to dress up the finish again. That's what mean when I say the satin Scotch-Brite finish is easier to maintain, on a much less frequent basis, than is maintaining a polish on my knives. I worked my way to a compromise over some time, to settle on the more practical user-friendly finish afforded by the Scotch-Brite method.

Personally, I like the "before" look better. It has character, and shows experience. But that's me.


My old "workhorse" 110. Never been polished, never will be. To each their own .

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Personally, I like the "before" look better. It has character, and shows experience. But that's me.


My old "workhorse" 110. Never been polished, never will be. To each their own .

I get that.

The 'Before' appearance is how the bolster on mine originally looked when I acquired the knife (second-hand). It did show some 'character', but it was somebody else's history on it and largely confined to the bolsters & frame. By contrast, the blade and edge itself had hardly any use or scuffs on it, if any, as can be seen in the photos I took. So there seemed to be some contradiction in my view as to how 'experienced' the knife actually was, aside from it probably knocking around in a pocket or a toolbox for some time. I wanted to make it my own and go from there. Not as many dings on it now, but some patina on the brass and my own edge as I prefer it, to show for my personal history with the knife.