What grit for balisong handles....

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d.weglarz13

Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
1,945
Okay. Silly question here. I recently purchased a Benchmade 42 and 62 balisongs, as i love to edc butterfly knives for fun sometimes. I have some nicks in both of them now. Both, from dropping them onto cement. So, this is really bugging me, since the 42 is money, and the 62 is new.
If i wanted to resand the handles to give me back that factory finish, what grit would you guys say is best?
Would you guys say send back to BM? i hate to do that since they are both daily flippers now, so maybe im thinking i can sand it myself.
But, i don't really see any scratch marks on the handles from factory sanding.....So, do they sand it and then buff the scratches out or something? This is bugging me, so any ideas or knowledge about this would really help.
IF all else fails, i guess i could send it to someone for a refinish job, but who does this kind of thing?
Again, wouldn't mind trying myself first, but tell me what you guys think i can do.
thanks a lot.

dave
 
If you are going to try and sell them, send them to BM and get it done right. If not, then start at 120 grit and go up till it looks right. Spend lots of time with each grit and make sure that you have all the scratches of the previous grit out before you try to move on to the next grit. I would guess you will want to stop at 500-600 if it is a user finish, but you can go all the way into the thousands if you want them to be mirror polished.

Again, if you want it back to factory finish, have them do it. If you want to customize them, do it yourself. If you want to resell them, send them to BM and have them do them. You will, in no way, get the same amount of money as you would if they were new, but they would be in better condition than they are now, at least.
 
Personally, I'd say don't worry about it. If you are going to continue using them, you'll continue scratching them. Get used to it. That's what happens with EDCs.

But if that doesn't feel right to you, buy a multipack of sandpaper that has all the grits from 100 up to 1200, and use each one until the scratches from the previous grit disappear. At 1200 your handles should appear pretty close to mirror fine. If you want, you can go further, but it means buying special sandpaper, which will cost more than the multipack. You can find higher grits at an auto parts store, usually near where they stock the Bondo.
 
Those are cool knives, classic Balisongs.

I'd send them back in if anything for a refinish.

One thing is that with nicks you need to sand deep to get them out, that means sanding the whole knife to that depth... that can change a lot up on a folder.

I'd consider a bead blast or a stonewash if you want a good user finish.

For resale value I would leave them alone then send them in for a spa job if you want to resell them.
 
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