So, I decided to polish my BK11...(now done with polishing!)

P

pirate223

Joined
Dec 7, 2012
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Did so on a whim. I guess lazy Sundays scream "PROJECT!" to me, so I must obey.

I'm not done polishing it. I ran out of sand paper, and I might take it down to a finer grit later. I'm thinking of adding jimping on the spine, but not sure how to do that.

Any tips and tricks on polishing would be great.
I couldn't seem to get any pictures that show how polished it is. I'm not done with it anyway, so I'll wait till I'm done to take good pictures.




I'll update this thread once I'm done.
 
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Haha, thanks. The sanding not completely done, though. It's hard to see from the pics, but there are still some areas on the blade that aren't uniform with the rest of the polish.

I don't think I'll sand it too much more, though. I really like how it looks currently.
 
"Bang, bang, bang...", "tank, tank, tank..."

Oh polish, not Polish, sorry.


Looks good man, you can get some metal polishing paste at your local hardware store if you're about done sanding.
 
Murphnuge said:
"Bang, bang, bang...", "tank, tank, tank..."

Oh polish, not Polish, sorry.


Looks good man, you can get some metal polishing paste at your local hardware store if you're about done sanding.
Click to expand...

Hahaha, it looks great as is bud.
Then again I'm not a fan of high polish.
 
Thanks guys. I am very nearly done, but like I said the polish isn't fully uniform.

Thanks, Murphnuge. I believe I have some polish left over from when I made some rings out of quarters for fun.

I mostly did this because I wanted some experience polishing. I was happy with it before, but now it's even more customized and "mine".

I really don't think I'll take it to a high polish. If I did, I'd be afraid to use it, and that would be a tragedy.
 
That looks great as is, to me. The 80/20 rule definitely applies to polishing hardened steel.
 
Thanks guys.
Here is the finished product. I sanded some more then applied polish. Now I have to painfully insert it into a kydex sheath while thinking of all the scratches it's getting.




Pretty happy with it.
 
Looking good. I don't think that kydex will scratch it up too much - think how hard it is just to sand it with silicon carbide....I don't think thermoform plastic will do nearly the "damage" you think it will, especially after it starts to patina (pretty much the first time you cut anything). I polished my 11, too.....then cut some peppers and onions and voila! No more (semi) mirror finish.

Murphnuge said:
"Bang, bang, bang...", "tank, tank, tank..."

Oh polish, not Polish, sorry.
Click to expand...
That's funny. I remember that joke from when I was....like, 40 years ago.
 
granitestateofmind said:
Looking good. I don't think that kydex will scratch it up too much - think how hard it is just to sand it with silicon carbide....I don't think thermoform plastic will do nearly the "damage" you think it will, especially after it starts to patina (pretty much the first time you cut anything). I polished my 11, too.....then cut some peppers and onions and voila! No more (semi) mirror finish.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I was kinda exaggerating on that. It seems the kydex does little to the blade.
I'll get it out the next time I'm cutting fruit.
 
It's not the kydex that scratches the blade - although it does have a remarkably high surface hardness - it's all the grit, grime and dirt that gets imbedded into the kydex. But hey, along with the patina, that's what gives it character, right?

Looks awesome for now, though!
 
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Thanks man!
I'm not too afraid of messing up the polish. It's a user, so it's going to happen if I like it or not.
 
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