Polishing a stonewashed blade.

[FeistyKat]

How feasible would it be to polish a stonewashed blade?

Or to removed the brush marks on a polished blade?

How much work would it take to do it by hand?

I would protect the engravings with masking tape.

[Naperville]

Has anyone ever done this? Is a stonewashed blade perfectly flat?

It is definitely going to depend on the steels ability to take a polish. Some steels are better than others at this apparently.

[koenigsegg]

Are you speaking of taking a satin finish to polish? I would think if it's stonewashed it wouldn't be that hard,my manix 2 from 2014 came stonewashed but s30v doesn't polish all the way from what I've heard although the edge of my native is pretty polished after sharpening

[FeistyKat]

Are you speaking of taking a satin finish to polish?

Yes, that is exactly what I would like to do.

My Shaman is S30V.

[Giygas]

I mirror polish all my maxamet. Ive noticed Maxamet is far more rust resistant when mirror polished. Its not easy, but i wouldnt say its hard, either.

I use diamond compound and those felt/cotton dremel wheels.

I can probably post a few pics, if anyone is interested.

[gdwtvb]

I've polished knife blades before and S30V is what made me stop. I have several old stainless knives that came out reasonably well using progressively finer sandpaper and finishing up with polishing rouge and a Dremel tool. (by hand without disassembly, I wasn't worried about maintaining crisp lines or flat surfaces.) Old Gerbers, 440C I think. I can't remember the knife, but I couldn't get S30V anywhere near what I considered acceptably polished. In fact after my 'work' on the knife, I considered it to look hideous. I think I gifted the knife.

I think some of the changes in the S--V line of steels was to improve surface finishing properties.


Grizz

[FeistyKat]

I've polished knife blades before and S30V is what made me stop...In fact after my 'work' on the knife, I considered it to look hideous. I think I gifted the knife.

Hmmmm, maybe I should just leave well enough alone....

[gull wing]

Stonewash is the best finish.

[GrumpyBiker]

I hate Stonewashed blades, but I wanted to try out a Shaman & the more I used it the more it “wore in” and smoothed out , the more I really came to like it.
Since I was going to keep it I started with well used 800gr wet sand paper, moved to used 1,000gr .
I’ve been buying other models & haven’t gotten back to finish it but here it is next to an original riveted Native.
Polishing top to edge to maintain the grain of the grind.

[Notsurewhy]

I mirror polish all my maxamet. Ive noticed Maxamet is far more rust resistant when mirror polished. Its not easy, but i wouldnt say its hard, either.

I use diamond compound and those felt/cotton dremel wheels.

I can probably post a few pics, if anyone is interested.

I can't speak for the group, but I would like to see some pics.

[Giygas]

I can't speak for the group, but I would like to see some pics.

Its definitely not perfect, but it makes it so i can carry it on even the hottest days without seeing light surface rust when i take it out of my pocket at the end of my work day.

It has the normal black G10 scales from a standard S30V model, with skelotonized liners from a newer sprint run. Gives the knife a near perfect balance in my hand.

[emanuel]

I can probably post a few pics, if anyone is interested.

Pls do, I was inclined to do it but I was hesitant as I don't know how good the steel polishes or how hard it is to do. I have some 6 micron and 1.5 micron diamond compound available and a dremel so I might just do it if I like the look. Thanks.

[JD Spydo]

Actually I've learned to appreciate all of the different finishes on premium knife blades. I've never really had one that I ever thought it was worth the trouble to undo what they had already done to the blade pertaining to finishes. When I got my M390 Military in a trade a few years ago the original owner had done some type of a chemical etching on it that is very similar to a stonewash finish. Two of my friends tried to get me to polish that finish out of the blade. Well being I liked stonewashed type blades anyway it just kind of grew on me and I left it just the way I got it.

Because the M390 Military ended up being one of my Primary EDCs as it is. And I don't have to worry about micro scratches or any other abrasions because that chemical treated finish kind of hides them all. It almost looks like a "Super Patina". Oh it wouldn't have been my primary selection had I bought it new but it did kind of grow on me. I will admit that over the years I've had a couple of knives with black coated blades that I didn't particularly like on a certain knife. But I just maintained it and kept it clean.

Because to me if I'm using a knife daily as an EDC that I'm going to use hard I only care about it's edge retention and overall performance. I'm far more into function than I'm into looks or aesthetics. Oh I like a knife that looks cool but I care much more about how it performs by a long shot.

[VashHash]

When sanding the blade it's best to go in different directions with different grits. So say you start out with 100 grit. Do that horizontal then do 300 vertical. They say it helps to show you if any lines from the last grit are left before you change to finer grits. I put satin finish on a native 5 in S35VN. I mirror polished my old H1 SE spyderhawk. It does take time by hand. I did it a long time ago to a cheap knife with a dremel but never did it since.

[FeistyKat]

I can probably post a few pics, if anyone is interested.

Pls do, I was inclined to do it but I was hesitant as I don't know how good the steel polishes or how hard it is to do. I have some 6 micron and 1.5 micron diamond compound available and a dremel so I might just do it if I like the look. Thanks.

Yes, I too would like to see your photos. (I would have replied sooner, but I missed your post.)