How to fix this scratch?
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Different grits of automotive sandpaper. You best start with the same grit as what caused it. From there on you follow a progression up to the finest one. Say P120, 240, 320, 400, 800...
Stainless cladding is usually both very soft and abrasion resistant. Damage occurs easily and gets just as easily repaired — as long as you can live with some imperfections. Please remember it's a tool you're handling and more blemishes will appear over time. I admit that this one is nasty on a pristine blade. What I mean is you shouldn't expect a perfect result. An acceptable one is good.
The hardest part is in avoiding to cause extra damage with the first grit, especially on the matte side and the tip. I would use a loupe (around 10x) to check the tip. Once done, your tip will need a sharpening touching up.
Stainless cladding is usually both very soft and abrasion resistant. Damage occurs easily and gets just as easily repaired — as long as you can live with some imperfections. Please remember it's a tool you're handling and more blemishes will appear over time. I admit that this one is nasty on a pristine blade. What I mean is you shouldn't expect a perfect result. An acceptable one is good.
The hardest part is in avoiding to cause extra damage with the first grit, especially on the matte side and the tip. I would use a loupe (around 10x) to check the tip. Once done, your tip will need a sharpening touching up.
You could lightly paint the connecting areas to the tip with nail polish, to protect them from sandpaper misshaps. What I don’t know is if removing it afterwards with acetone would leave tarnished spots or some fine but still PITA scratches from cleaning. Alternatively painter’s tape, but the danger with this one is catching some of it within the grits of sandpaper, which will immensely **** up your work. Don’t ask how I know.
Add-on: there are expert finishers around here, let some other folks chime in before doing anything you might regret.
I'd tape off sections you don't want to scratch / blemish. Then using automotive sandpaper, slowly buff out the section.
If you get that facet evenly sanded out, it'd not be really noticeable even if it's not matching the other blade facets. Not sure if I'm conveying this right.
If you get that facet evenly sanded out, it'd not be really noticeable even if it's not matching the other blade facets. Not sure if I'm conveying this right.
You'll get cleaner results by grinding this part with a totally flat stone or at best a diamond stone. And if possible perpendicular or diagonal to the length of the blade.
This would solve your problem and give a straight line wich is an advantage for the overall esthetic of the blade.
Coarse grits are no problem on such a small surface, as long as they leave a "uniform" scratch pattern. I mean the scratches should be parallel to each other.
If you use sand paper you may get rounded and wavy lines, wich would be worse than the small scratch you're showing on the picture.
And between us, 6-1 millimeters moves with coarse sand paper is not something I would advice anyone..
If your budget is tight you should glue the sand paper to a piece of wood for example. About 600 grit should be the final step. Don't go lower if you don't have to.
This would solve your problem and give a straight line wich is an advantage for the overall esthetic of the blade.
Coarse grits are no problem on such a small surface, as long as they leave a "uniform" scratch pattern. I mean the scratches should be parallel to each other.
If you use sand paper you may get rounded and wavy lines, wich would be worse than the small scratch you're showing on the picture.
And between us, 6-1 millimeters moves with coarse sand paper is not something I would advice anyone..
If your budget is tight you should glue the sand paper to a piece of wood for example. About 600 grit should be the final step. Don't go lower if you don't have to.
Is there anywhere online where we can buy a set of small sand paper pieces? Or do we have to go to Home Depot and curate our own collection of various grits?
Amazon usually has some but faster and better serve to go directly to some hardware store, in my experience prices are the same.
You don't want to use sandpaper too near of the edge. There is also no magic way of making such scratches disappear. Whatever intervention hides a scratch of the sorts is a progression from a bit coarser scratches to very fine ones. You need to be consistent to a degree not easy to reach sanding by hand - or make do with a polish that looks nice under most lights and angles, but with some angles, and some lighting, you'll easily see the messy pattern you've left behind. You cannot localize such work. The tip scratch was isolated to a small surface and would be easier to work on. Here you'd need to do the whole bevel.
What diminishes the appearance of such a scratch is very fine sandpaper - the "coarsest" that's fine enough not to visibly scratch works best. Somewhere along the lines of 1200 -2000 automotive usually is pretty fine almost invisible pattern, but a 3000 sanding pad I've found works pretty "invisibly". Then again, if you're to inspect the bevel under varying angle/light, some very fine scratches may show. And mind you that the effect will be to "darken" and blend some of the shiny bare steel appearance of that scratch, not hide it entirely.
You don't want to use sandpaper too near of the edge. There is also no magic way of making such scratches disappear. Whatever intervention hides a scratch of the sorts is a progression from a bit coarser scratches to very fine ones. You need to be consistent to a degree not easy to reach sanding by hand - or make do with a polish that looks nice under most lights and angles, but with some angles, and some lighting, you'll easily see the messy pattern you've left behind. You cannot localize such work. The tip scratch was isolated to a small surface and would be easier to work on. Here you'd need to do the whole bevel.
What diminishes the appearance of such a scratch is very fine sandpaper - the "coarsest" that's fine enough not to visibly scratch works best. Somewhere along the lines of 1200 -2000 automotive usually is pretty fine almost invisible pattern, but a 3000 sanding pad I've found works pretty "invisibly". Then again, if you're to inspect the bevel under varying angle/light, some very fine scratches may show. And mind you that the effect will be to "darken" and blend some of the shiny bare steel appearance of that scratch, not hide it entirely.
By the way, neither scratches are terrible, but working on them might in the end yield a result that you find even worse. It's a hole that cannot be only circled and circumvented - you'll just fall in one way or another, and once it's done, there is no coming back, just going forward until you find peace with results you get from sandpaper to more professional work the likes of @nutmeg who by the way is a mighty good finisher.
Due to a series of unfortunate events, the knife is scratched even more. How do I get rid of this line scratch on the core? Very carefully rubbing with a tiny nagura?
You should either refinish the entire wide bevel on stones, or relax and forget about it. You’ll never be able to fix just the core and make it look good. At least, I wouldn’t be able to.
those have worked fine for me.
the fastest, cheapest and best looking would be to work on benchstones.
A small nagura is a bad solution for a work on a blade. It is going to look very scratchy.
A small nagura is a bad solution for a work on a blade. It is going to look very scratchy.
VICTOR J CREAZZI
Senior Member
Could always get a fine rust eraser, 400-800 grit sandpaper or rub stone slurry from a 1k+ grit stone. Rub parallel with the edge from heel-to-tip.
Or just embrace the scratches and don't fret.
Or just embrace the scratches and don't fret.
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Leave it and sharpen, starting far behind the edge — as you always should. The patina will disappear, but reappear as soon as you are going to use the knife again.
Staystrapped
Well-Known Member
Be careful I had some pieces of abrasive embed themselves in the finish of a knife and I can’t remove them short of powered intervention. Luckily it was a cheap knife
