Rehabbing an old Police

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Pete1977
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Rehabbing an old Police

#1

Post by Pete1977 »

This past summer I picked up a stainless CE Police on the big auction site for about $80. It has the single position tip down right hand clip and a VG-10 blade with POLICE etched into it. There is no spyder next to the POLICE and the locking bar has a Boye detent.

When it arrived it was in rough shape. The blade was missing about 1/4 inch of its tip which had been reground, the plain edge may have gone through a pull-through type sharpener and a grinder was used to cut some random notches in the spine above the thumb hole. The first several serrations were blunt and an attempt was made to resharpen them. The clip was missing a screw and replaced with a smaller head screw. It still has some play but is pretty secure. Naturally the blade and handle were scratched up. There is slight up and down play an periodic slight side to side play in the blade but it locks securely with no issues. It opens smoothly as most stainless Spydercos do.

I used a triangle and round jewlers file to notch the handle and improve the grip which is my standard modification to stainless handled Spydercos. I put 36 half-round notches by hand for traction.

I gave up trying to sharpen it when I first got it as the edge needed serious thinning out. I finally managed to get some free time and with a sharpie and dremel i was able to get to the edge using the coarse sanding drum on the lowest speed. Then diamond rods on the sharpmaker set the bevel and i gave it 40 passes on the brown stones and white stones. I managed to get it hair shaving sharp but there were still some bad spots near the tip.

Since I have been out of the knife game for so long all I had to sharpen was my sharpmaker. Since i didn’t want to drop a couple hundred dollars on an edge pro or other professional sharpening system I picked up a Ruixin Pro rx-008 and some extra diamond stones on Amazon.

Within an hour I had a 6000 grit 30 degree inclusive edge on the knife. I still have some work to do thinning out or grinding off the bad serrations but this knife is back to life with many more years of service in it.

I am a huge fan of the older models, especially those designed as working knives. Since i no longer commercial fish full time my pocket knife does not get the workout that it used to. I still use my knife daily in law enforcement so this old Police will be going back on the job this week. It still has plenty of life left it it and cuts like it left the factory yesterday.

It is satisfying to bring an old knife someone else thought used up back to life.
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Pete1977
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Re: Rehabbing an old Police

#2

Post by Pete1977 »

Once i get some decent pix and figure out how to post them I will put a few up.
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Re: Rehabbing an old Police

#3

Post by The Meat man »

Cool! Can't wait to see what it looks like.
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Pete1977
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Re: Rehabbing an old Police

#4

Post by Pete1977 »

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Kevinim82
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Re: Rehabbing an old Police

#5

Post by Kevinim82 »

Very nice modifications! The file work is a great touch.
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Pete1977
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Re: Rehabbing an old Police

#6

Post by Pete1977 »

Kevinim82 wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:57 am
Very nice modifications! The file work is a great touch.
Thanks-
I love the slim solid construction of SS knives but they are very slippery especially with wet hands. The steel is soft enough to filework it by hand so I try to do it for any SS Spyderco i intend to use. This was a quick job with a simple pattern but eventually i would like to try something a little more complex that would look nice as well as add function to the knife.
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Re: Rehabbing an old Police

#7

Post by Doc Dan »

That knife has seen some abuse. You could sharpen it and then polish the knife and make it look a lot better.
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Pete1977
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Re: Rehabbing an old Police

#8

Post by Pete1977 »

Doc Dan wrote:
Sun Nov 28, 2021 8:28 am
That knife has seen some abuse. You could sharpen it and then polish the knife and make it look a lot better.
It really has. I have a feeling that it was electrocuted at one point, and that it was used to cut heavy wire based on the damage to the first serration. Whoever owned it was able to replace the center clip screw with one that fit.

I don’t mind the cosmetic appearance as it gives it character.
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Re: Rehabbing an old Police

#9

Post by bearrowland »

I agree with you about rehabbing an old knife and putting it back to work. Nice job!
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