I have some older knives which have seen their share of use. Put myself up to the challenge of refinishing them before sending out for a fresh edge. Primarily getting rid of any surface blemishes. I have never attempted anything with knives, but have had some experience refinishing / polishing various metals, not a pro by any means. Googling shun refinishing I saw a mixed bag, some saying its not possible, others giving advice. Open to any tips, hopefully this thread can shed some light on the subject.
First step was sanding down the bolster & butt. In theory maybe this should be done after you refinish the blade face, however I started with the low hanging fruit.
Here you can see some of the wear (the handle is wrapped in electric tape to prevent scratching)
Being careful with sanding direction, 320 grit produced the best result. I occasionally dipped down to 220 or lower if certain marks were being stubborn. Obviously going back to 320 grit for the final finish. The best method I found was to fold a piece of sand paper about the width of your pointer finger, wrap that around the bolster & with your other hand spin the handle of the knife.
Next come the scratching & overall cloudy appearance of the blade face (partially visible in the previous photo) I tried to keep around 600 grit, dipping down to 400 for any stubborn marks. Wet sanding helped with material removal and it seemed to speed up the process. I moved up to 1000 & 2000. Lightly buffing the blade with a wheel attached to my drill & using a liquid metal polish called white diamond. I achieved a decent result. It still didn't have the luster of a factory finish nor did it have good layer contrast. (the two larger knives in this photo are on the better side of wear & tear but still hazy - not factory finish)
At this point I figured (as others mentioned) I would need to etch the blade with ferric chloride or muratic acid. So I went back at it with the polisher to achieve a luster comparable to factory before etching.
While that looked good, it definitely lacked the gorgeous Damascus contrast. I had some muratic acid around & mixed that up 1:2 with hydrogen peroxide. Rubber gloves, a huge bucket of water handy and a respirator on. I wiped the mixture on the blade & let sit for maybe 5 minutes, then let it soak in water. Never working with this stuff I was surprised by the result. It brought back the contrast but turned it black (oxide?). If only that was polish...
I looked up a few ways to try and remove this discoloration. First was baking soda / water paste. That didn't prove helpful. Next on the list Barkeepers friend. It worked, but took a good amount of scrubbing. Once the black was removed, the knives had contrast but appeared hazy, especially the edge (compared against factory finish below). I figured, sweet I'll just give it a quick buff and I'll bring back that luster.
Not the case. Seems that muratic acid did a number to my high polish. I found myself back in the same process of polishing before etching. The worst part is that it was also removing the etched contrast at the same rate. I painstakingly went back through the sanding/polishing process. Then my next attempt with the acid. I covered the blade edge to retain as much polish there as a I could. Round one I might have gone a little too long with the acid. This time I quickly wiped the acid over the blade then dipped it in water, dried the blade off, and hit with a pass of the polish. It managed to avoid severe discoloration, gain a bit of contrast, and not loose too much luster. I repeated this process one maybe two more times.
I am pretty happy with the comparison to factory. Underneath the tape the edge retained its high polish as well. Still going to work on the finish a little bit (acid/polish) before calling it a success and repeating on the remaining. It has been a lot of work by hand & I question if even worth it, however fun to have a challenge. This is by no means meant as a how-to guide, so please follow any steps at your own risk.
First step was sanding down the bolster & butt. In theory maybe this should be done after you refinish the blade face, however I started with the low hanging fruit.
Here you can see some of the wear (the handle is wrapped in electric tape to prevent scratching)
Being careful with sanding direction, 320 grit produced the best result. I occasionally dipped down to 220 or lower if certain marks were being stubborn. Obviously going back to 320 grit for the final finish. The best method I found was to fold a piece of sand paper about the width of your pointer finger, wrap that around the bolster & with your other hand spin the handle of the knife.
Next come the scratching & overall cloudy appearance of the blade face (partially visible in the previous photo) I tried to keep around 600 grit, dipping down to 400 for any stubborn marks. Wet sanding helped with material removal and it seemed to speed up the process. I moved up to 1000 & 2000. Lightly buffing the blade with a wheel attached to my drill & using a liquid metal polish called white diamond. I achieved a decent result. It still didn't have the luster of a factory finish nor did it have good layer contrast. (the two larger knives in this photo are on the better side of wear & tear but still hazy - not factory finish)
At this point I figured (as others mentioned) I would need to etch the blade with ferric chloride or muratic acid. So I went back at it with the polisher to achieve a luster comparable to factory before etching.
While that looked good, it definitely lacked the gorgeous Damascus contrast. I had some muratic acid around & mixed that up 1:2 with hydrogen peroxide. Rubber gloves, a huge bucket of water handy and a respirator on. I wiped the mixture on the blade & let sit for maybe 5 minutes, then let it soak in water. Never working with this stuff I was surprised by the result. It brought back the contrast but turned it black (oxide?). If only that was polish...
I looked up a few ways to try and remove this discoloration. First was baking soda / water paste. That didn't prove helpful. Next on the list Barkeepers friend. It worked, but took a good amount of scrubbing. Once the black was removed, the knives had contrast but appeared hazy, especially the edge (compared against factory finish below). I figured, sweet I'll just give it a quick buff and I'll bring back that luster.
Not the case. Seems that muratic acid did a number to my high polish. I found myself back in the same process of polishing before etching. The worst part is that it was also removing the etched contrast at the same rate. I painstakingly went back through the sanding/polishing process. Then my next attempt with the acid. I covered the blade edge to retain as much polish there as a I could. Round one I might have gone a little too long with the acid. This time I quickly wiped the acid over the blade then dipped it in water, dried the blade off, and hit with a pass of the polish. It managed to avoid severe discoloration, gain a bit of contrast, and not loose too much luster. I repeated this process one maybe two more times.
I am pretty happy with the comparison to factory. Underneath the tape the edge retained its high polish as well. Still going to work on the finish a little bit (acid/polish) before calling it a success and repeating on the remaining. It has been a lot of work by hand & I question if even worth it, however fun to have a challenge. This is by no means meant as a how-to guide, so please follow any steps at your own risk.
