I got a bunch of knife samples left over from when my wife used to wholesale
them. They've been sitting in the garage or storage for years now. They're
decent "beater" knives, one to be used for whatever without having to risk
using a good quality knife.

On some of them, there are blemishes appearing that look like small black
spots, or the webbing in mossy agate stone. I would like to take some
polishing compound and my Foredom with a small cotton buffing wheel of about
1" to see if I can polish these out. But I don't want to risk just making a
obvious spot on there, or delustering what's already there.

What would be a good approach to clean these up for sale on ebay. I have
already included the minor imperfections in the description. But it would
look nice to deliver them in a little better condition.

Suggestions appreciated.

steve

On 12/9/2011 9:54 PM, Steve B wrote:
I got a bunch of knife samples left over from when my wife used to wholesale
them. They've been sitting in the garage or storage for years now. They're
decent "beater" knives, one to be used for whatever without having to risk
using a good quality knife.

On some of them, there are blemishes appearing that look like small black
spots, or the webbing in mossy agate stone. I would like to take some
polishing compound and my Foredom with a small cotton buffing wheel of about
1" to see if I can polish these out. But I don't want to risk just making a
obvious spot on there, or delustering what's already there.

What would be a good approach to clean these up for sale on ebay. I have
already included the minor imperfections in the description. But it would
look nice to deliver them in a little better condition.

Suggestions appreciated.

steve


Two things come to mind.\

Buffing wheel with rouge, assuming you own the buff, the
grinder/polisher, and the rouge.

The other would be a small can of valve grinding compound with a rag.

--


___________________________________

Keep the whole world singing . . .
Dan G

On Fri, 9 Dec 2011 19:54:39 -0800, "Steve B" wrote:

I got a bunch of knife samples left over from when my wife used to wholesale
them. They've been sitting in the garage or storage for years now. They're
decent "beater" knives, one to be used for whatever without having to risk
using a good quality knife.

On some of them, there are blemishes appearing that look like small black
spots, or the webbing in mossy agate stone. I would like to take some
polishing compound and my Foredom with a small cotton buffing wheel of about
1" to see if I can polish these out. But I don't want to risk just making a
obvious spot on there, or delustering what's already there.

What would be a good approach to clean these up for sale on ebay. I have
already included the minor imperfections in the description. But it would
look nice to deliver them in a little better condition.

Suggestions appreciated.

steve

Got any photos of the knifes? What sort are they? Kitchen? Field?

Gunner, always interested in knives


One could not be a successful Leftwinger without realizing that,
in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers
and mothers of Leftwingers, a goodly number of Leftwingers are
not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid.
Gunner Asch

On Sat, 10 Dec 2011 10:43:51 -0600, DanG wrote:

On 12/9/2011 9:54 PM, Steve B wrote:
I got a bunch of knife samples left over from when my wife used to wholesale
them. They've been sitting in the garage or storage for years now. They're
decent "beater" knives, one to be used for whatever without having to risk
using a good quality knife.

On some of them, there are blemishes appearing that look like small black
spots, or the webbing in mossy agate stone. I would like to take some
polishing compound and my Foredom with a small cotton buffing wheel of about
1" to see if I can polish these out. But I don't want to risk just making a
obvious spot on there, or delustering what's already there.

What would be a good approach to clean these up for sale on ebay. I have
already included the minor imperfections in the description. But it would
look nice to deliver them in a little better condition.

Suggestions appreciated.

steve


Two things come to mind.\

Buffing wheel with rouge, assuming you own the buff, the
grinder/polisher, and the rouge.

The other would be a small can of valve grinding compound with a rag.


Rouge is not aggressive enough to do any cutting on hardened
400-series stainless. If the stainless is junk, it could work. But the
black spots suggest a high-carbon stainless.

Personally, I'd try some phosphoric acid (Naval Jelly is phosphoric
acid) to see if it eats the black oxide first. It probably won't. But
I've had bad results using hydrochloric on stainless (a dullness
that's very hard to polish out, if you leave it in too long), so I
wouldn't use that. If you want to try it, don't leave it in the
solution long. I cut muriatic (dilute hydrochloric) 50% with water for
this job.

I use electrolytic de-rusting for red rust, but it, too, often doesn't
work on the black stuff. Then, to polish, I'd use Dico Stainless
buffing compound. It will cut any stainless or other steel, and it
leaves a very bright finish. It cuts fairly fast so don't overdo it.
If anything, the finish it leaves is too bright for knives.

--
Ed Huntress