Undoing a "street sharpening"

[chambers]

Hi Guys,

I recently picked up a blade from the Rescue mission down here. (I work security for the shelter and some times the Homies need to be asked to remove a blade. On the off chance that they forget to retrieve it after a week it's mine) So anyway I picked up a realatively nice piece and am wondering if there are any polishes out there that will undo some of the gawd awful scratches on the blade from "street sharpening" (many will simply drag the blade across the cement a fewt times and call it sharp) That's about the gist of it. There are many many scratches on the blade and I'd like to take as many as possible out. Suggestions? And one last thing I'm sorry to admit it's not a spyder knife but it's still worth putting a little effort into restoring.



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[Brian]

What kind of knife is it?

"Happiness is, being on first name terms with the UPS man."

[SpyderNut]

What you may want to try is a buffing wheel with a medium to fine grit buffing compound.

Depending how deep the scratches are is how heavy a grit you should use. After the worst of it is gone, you could either buff the snot out of it for a nice shiny blade, or you could finish the blade with 1500 to 2000 grit sandpaper for a more "subdued" look. A tactical look can be acheived by sandblasting the blade with silica sand. Of course, sandblasting might not be the best thing to do if the steel isn't stainless. By sandblasting it, rust will set in a lot faster.
You may also want to hold off on the sharpening it until you have the blade &quot;cosmetics&quot; worked out. A buffing wheel and a sharp knife aren't the best combo out there.<img src="smile.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle>

BTW, what brand of knife is it?

Good luck!

~Spydernut

[Sword and Shield]

Polishing it starting with a rough grit of around 280-320 will remove most tough scratches, then a polish with 600 grit will finish the blade to a typical shininess.

What was it? The brand of knife can tell you how far to polish it, Case knives are mirror polished, for example.

Keepin' it real...real sharp, that is.

[chambers]

Since everyone is forcing me to admit I own a nonspyder I might as well go whole hog here. It's an old Linder bowie. I've checked out their site and am unable to match it. This one is different than any other Linders I can find online. The original finish was a mirror finish. It's in pretty bad shape right now cosmetically. Duller than....dull stuff. I can deal with sharpening. Trick is guys I have no equipment for polishing. No buffing whatzits and such what not. To get you totally on line with me here I was debating one of those garage red cloths and some brasso. I'm willing to sink a little cash into fixing this bowie up but I'm not going to ship it somewhere and pay three digits for some yahoo to look at it and tell me it's scratched. So I'm kinda of the cloth and polish mind. Am I nuts or honestly barking up an empty tree here? Again I'm open to all suggestions. Thanks guys.

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[4 s ter]

Hi Chambers

I recently polished the blade (6&quot<img src="wink.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle> on a Buck Special using wet/dry sandpaper.

I started with 320 grit, followed with 600, finishing with 1500. I used it wet with lots of water and changing the (small) sheets of sandpaper often. I wrapped the paper around a large rubber eraser to make it easier to hold on to and keep it flatter against the blade.

The 320 grit will take care of all but the worst scratches - anything to deep for it to sand out would probably require the removal of too much metal from the blade.

The 1500 grit gives a final finish that is almost mirror smooth. I imagine it could be followed up with a buffer but it really isn't necessary.

If you have trouble finding the fine grit wet/dry sandpaper just try an auto supply store that sell auto painting/refinishing supplies.

Hope this helps - by the way, prepare to spend a few hours sanding to get a really nice finish.

David

[Sword and Shield]

I'll go with 4ster on this one. Simple sanding seems the way to go, starting with 280 or 320 grit. Working your way through the grits up to 600 will give a near-mirror finish, while a final polish with 1000 or 1500 will complete the mirror-ization.

Keepin' it real...real sharp, that is.