Screwed Up S30V Blade!

cziv said:
I've cut a bunch of cardboard and it never made a mark on the S30V blade.

That's a fine looking Spyderco, what was the price tag on it new and what was the steel type? :)
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Hmm, the cardboard gets mine sometimes.

It's a Pacific Salt, they're between 60-80 new depending on where you look, cheaper if you find a used one here. It's H1 steel, which is extremely tough and rust proof. I like it for the summer because it's real thin and light, and I don't have to worry about getting it wet when I swim or sweaty when I'm out being active.
 
cziv said:
Does Benchmade sell a replacement blade. They still make this knife. They say in the warranty if you break the tip it's like $25 to get a new blade.

Just wondered if anybody knows. I'll call them Monday. A good night's sleep has brought things into perspective. I'm not crazy po'ed at myself anymore - just a little bit though.

tnt-user - Sorry to see that man, tragic!
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I did it on purpose:D. Now I know its mine.
 
That's a great idea hardheart. With what & how? If you'd care to elaborate a bit. :)
 
wet/dry sandpaper and a whole lotta time. Get a combo pack from the paint/body section of a parts store and spend the afternoon going through the grits. Change the direction of rubbing with each grit, and make sure you get rid of all the scratches from the previous grit. The same could be done with power tools, but that is pricey and relatively dangerous compared to sanding away by hand. You don't need to start any coarser than whatever put the scratches on the blade.

I you want to keep the logo, tape off the flats and do just the primary grind, will give a two tone textured sort of effect.
 
hardheart said:
The same could be done with power tools, but that is pricey and relatively dangerous compared to sanding away by hand. You don't need to start any coarser than whatever put the scratches on the blade.
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I have to add something:

When I flat-ground my Delica's saber grind, I finished it with my belt sander with a 120-grit belt. The finish was very smooth, but I couldn't have done the same by hand with 120-grit paper or even 1000-grit paper (I've tried.) The speed of the belt sander is what gave it such a good finish.

Of course as you said, this is quite dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Especially with a non-flat-ground blade, you have to be very skilled to pull it off without ending up modifying (which is sometimes "destroying") the blade. The only reason I did it was because I didn't care what happened; it was an experiment. The spine is a bit rounded off, has some unevenness (the spine and sides of the blade are not 90°), and the blade is about 1 or 2mm shorter.

So do with caution :cool:
 
They are character marks.
Get used to them and think of them as a badge of honor ;)

It happens to everyone.

Another thing that happens to everyone (and maybe not you) is that they get all upset about the scratches and try to fix them.
In the act of fixing them they add new marks to the blade.
The new marks don't match the old ones and the blade looks decidedly worse for the attempts.

I had brillo scratches on a Buck 119.
I tried scotchbright pads and now have both kinds of scratches :D
The knife is going to stay that way. No sense in adding a third set of scratches.

Lowering the bevels on my recon scout...
I stripped the paint off and lovingly hand sanded the blade from 220 to 2000 grit.
Ran it off the end of the stone not once, not twice, but three times.
Hand sanded back from 400-800-1000-1500-2000 grit. What scratches still show are staying.

Chalk it up to experience.

Here is a tutorial on hand sanding from a good guy & forum member.
http://beknivessite2.homestead.com/handrubbing.html

If you really must have the scratches gone, follow the tutorial.
Start at 220 and hit all the stops up to 1500 or 2000.
If you do this, you will have to do the reverse side of the blade as well since it will look different.
Be prepared to spend a good while on it. I'm talking hours. Many hours, if you want a killer perfect job.

Or you can live with the marks and call it character :D
 
This whole thread has caused the theme from the Twilight Zone to become stuck in my head.

I don't think I own a knife that I have ever used that is not scratched up. Now if I have one in my pocket that isn't sharp - then I would be freaking out.
 
Bill1170 said:
If it is still dull, then you have not ground it all the way to the edge. Put on the masking tape, then go back to your coarse stone and keep at it until it starts to be sharp. Only then move to the finer grits.

Another vote for don't worry about the scratches, too!
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Too true! Look at some of the knife sharpening posts here. S30V takes me more effort to sharpen than some of the softer knives I have. I prefer using a sharpie marker on the edge so I know where the grind is. If it was me I would take my time and re-profile the edge. It will overlap the scratches and be sharper. Win, win!
 
If it was me I would take my time and re-profile the edge. It will overlap the scratches and be sharper.
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Did you actually look at the scratches and how high up they go? I doubt if it could be reprofiled that high. It would have a a 1/4 inch bevel (grind line) on the edges??

I can get it tumbled to a satin finish from Nathan who posted eariler, it will probably not have any logo afterward and be dulled - but then I can start sharpening again! :D

In the picture it looks like it has a finish similar to what I use on most of my knives, which is a scotchbrite belt finish and vibratory tumbling for a satin finish.

If you want, I can attempt to minimally apply this technique to your blade to remove/reduce/hide those scratches. The trip through the tumbler would leave the edge quite dull. I have no idea what would happen to the logo.
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Anyway, I went out and beat on my motorcycle all morning which kind of got my mind off all of this stuff. Thanks for the opinions and adivice!
 
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3 pages of saying near the same thing and it's still got scratches on it!! Hahaha :P You better get to work man lol. I keep checking here to see the after pics lol.

Ahh man, I can just picture all of us getting together ;don't even know what you all look like, but I can picture all us standing there drinking a beer or soda Hank Hill style, one of pulls out his pocket knife and we could talk about the fit and finish of that particular knife...all day long rofl. I love that :thumbup:
 
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Did the same thing to my Delica. I haven't tried to clean it up though. I thought about some Mothers metal polish and a dremel buffing wheel.
 
I was looking at Benchmade's website and they said if you broke the blade they'd replace it for $25 bucks, $30 for serrated.

I'll call them tomorrow and see what they'd be willing to do I think.

Has anyone ever bought a replacement blade from them? That might be the best avenue to this dilemna. If I understand their site correctly?
 
Man, I feel that a knife isn't truly mine until I put a few scratches on it. LOL! I've only had one knife come new out of the box ridiculously dull. Definitely take the advice about the diamond stones / rods. They will make sharpening / re-profiling much easier. Even though I have Sharpmaker, it is really more of a sharp keeper. I really only use it now for blades with deep recurves. For everything else, I am much more proficient with diamond stones and flat Arkansas stones for sharpening.
 
cziv said:
I was looking at Benchmade's website and they said if you broke the blade they'd replace it for $25 bucks, $30 for serrated.

I'll call them tomorrow and see what they'd be willing to do I think.

Has anyone ever bought a replacement blade from them? That might be the best avenue to this dilemna. If I understand their site correctly?
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Seriously your spending $25 on a few scratches?(+S&H):confused:
 
Seriously your spending $25 on a few scratches?(+S&H)
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Either that or I may buy a new one and keep it for collecting purposes.

I've often bought 2 of the same knives that I like anyway, haven't you seen the guys with 6, 8, 10 of the same knife displayed in their collections? Maybe a different steel or handle color or sometimes the same one.

I think this model is a very classy little knife but 2 of the same knife is usually my limit.

As I said I don't know if Benchmade will even do it.
 
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