Clip-polishing... a sad tale...

Pharmagator · #1

I watched the videos on clip-polishing... and I thought... "here is something I can do!" I own several spyderco knives and all of the black clips have noticeable wear... so I dug out the old Dremel, ordered me one of those green polish blocks and some cloth polishing wheels and got to business...

I started with an Endura4 clip - polished up just fine... a little noisy... wife not too happy with the Dremel-whine coming from my office for an hour... the next was the G-10 police - again, the clip polished to a nice chrome finish!

then I removed the clips from 4 of my Military knives... all dinged up pretty good... and hours later... not so much luck... I polished and polished, and the coating would s-l-o-w-l-y come off... I would say, 3 hours into it and I have one clip 80% done...

I called the Spyderco factory outlet and ordered some silver clips...

anyone else have trouble polishing the Military black clips?

or recommend someone who does this professionally?

thanks, Mike

HeiHeit · #2

The Military's clip has a tough coating for sure. Just get some high grit sandpaper and sand the coating off and finish with the wheel.

Agent_Ohm · #3

Did you clean/replace the dremel head after each clip polishing?

The Deacon · #4

As noted, not all "black" clips use the same coating. Some are paint, some more like bluing, some something else altogether. The Military's has a reputation for being the best, that is to say hardest to damage, and thus hardest to remove intentionally.

JNewell · #5

Life is short, clips are cheap. I buy replacements from Spyderco rather than try to alter existing clips. :spyder:

Pharmagator wrote:I watched the videos on clip-polishing... and I thought... "here is something I can do!" I own several spyderco knives and all of the black clips have noticeable wear... so I dug out the old Dremel, ordered me one of those green polish blocks and some cloth polishing wheels and got to business...

I started with an Endura4 clip - polished up just fine... a little noisy... wife not too happy with the Dremel-whine coming from my office for an hour... the next was the G-10 police - again, the clip polished to a nice chrome finish!

then I removed the clips from 4 of my Military knives... all dinged up pretty good... and hours later... not so much luck... I polished and polished, and the coating would s-l-o-w-l-y come off... I would say, 3 hours into it and I have one clip 80% done...

I called the Spyderco factory outlet and ordered some silver clips...

anyone else have trouble polishing the Military black clips?

or recommend someone who does this professionally?

thanks, Mike

Evil D · #6

If it's anything like the tungsten coating found on some blades then you'll probably have to sand it off before the metal underneath will polish.

Pharmagator · #7

Glad to know that this wasn't just 'operator error' - those military clips are just too tough ... I'm going to have to live with their 'patina' - goodness knows I get enough on the blades from my less than stellar attempts at sharpening...

so... Military clips (1) mike (0)

CanisMajor · #8

I seem to recall reading someone else trying to remove the paint from a Military clip and had little luck.

Canis

Johnny Boy · #9

As a metal fabricator working with many different finishes I would highly recommend just buying a new clip. Unless you are touching up its just not worth it. I don't know what the coatings are but, saving probably 10 bucks to make dust out of mystery material (and in an office) is ill advised without proper safety gear. There are many industrial coatings that are just plain not good to grind. Not worth it IMO

JBE · #10

Have someone bead-blast it for you....That's what I did with mine...Came out with a nice matte, almost titanium-like finish.

sharpguitarist · #11

don't give up yet! it is possible to remove the black from your milie clip.
i tried acetone and brake fluid to no avail. ended up having to sand it off with 220 grit sandpaper and some elbow grease.
i didn't polish mine, but gave it a homemade stonewashed finish.

Evil D · #12

I would think that any decent paint stripper would take the finish off with no problem. Go to a parts store and buy a can of Permatex Gasket Remover. It comes in a spray can for about $4 and i've used it to remove factory powdercoating on car rims and it eats it off like you wouldn't believe. I wouldn't get it on the handle...might eat that too and it'll sting your skin if you overspray yourself.

#13

Military clips are actually plated, not painted or coated. Paint strippers and such won't do anything to them; you'll need to use an abrasive process.

Stay safe,

Mike

Monocrom · #14

Looks like some clips prefer to stay Black, and stay Strong. :D

Fred Sanford · #15

People seem to forget that you don't need to do everything with high speed devices like dremels.

I went to the store, bought a spray can of paint stripper and it takes me 15 minutes to strip a clip. I spray the clip (both sides) and let it sit for 10 minutes. I can wipe the paint off 10 minutes later with paper towel. After that I usually take some 400 grit and then 600 grit and sand the clip to my satisfaction. I don't ever spend more than 25 minutes doing a clip.

Again, like Michael said above, I don't use stripper on Military or Paramilitary clips. I leave 'em alone. I only strip clips for Enduras and Delicas and anything with a barrel bolt clip.

Paint stripper is cheap and it does what it's designed to do for $5.00.

Evil D · #16

What kind of coating do they use? Easy-Off oven cleaner will strip off aluminum anodizing but probably won't work on tungsten or titanium coating but you never know. That gasket remover i mentioned is pretty nasty stuff..i'd still have to try that just to see.