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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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Old 08-18-2003, 08:45 PM
Gabe Newell Gabe Newell is offline
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Polishing etched knives

This is more of a collector's question than a newbie question, but I figure the answer would be of interest to newbies as well.

I like to polish knives with FLITZ or Simachrome. I've noticed, though, that a lot of etched knives - etched to show off a hamon or etched to show off a pattern-welded Damascus blade - seem to suffer when polished.

What is and isn't safe practice with etched blades?

Anecdote - I had a pattern welded kitchen knife that several other people treated rather shabbily. The final blow was when someone used it to cut an orange and then let the knife sit for several hours. The pattern almost completely wiped off with a light pressure from a dish rag.

Up until then I hadn't really grasped how fragile the pattern on a Damascus blade could be. (I re-etched the blade myself, which was fun.) This made me curious if polishing could similarly erode a pattern or hamon, and I started paying attention to it.

Also, would stainless Damascus be less likely to be vulnerable to acidic etch loss?


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Old 08-19-2003, 06:07 AM
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Don Cowles Don Cowles is offline
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Gabe, the process of polishing is not benign, even with something as mild as Flitz or Simichrome. These pastes use an abrasive, albeit fine, to remove material. This is okay on a bolster or a mirror-polished blade, but will wreak havoc on an etched surface. Best bet is to clean or polish with just Renaissance wax.

As far as stainless damascus, I would offer the same advice. Even with a deep etch, where the pattern is in strong relief, you risk removing the oxides that provide the contrast if you use any sort of an abrasive.


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Old 08-19-2003, 01:07 PM
Gabe Newell Gabe Newell is offline
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Thanks, Don.


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