Polishing Lil’ Native G10 scales?

[Ez556]

Has anyone polished the factory black G10 scales on the Lil’ Native? I want to dress mine up a little, but no aftermarket scales have really piqued my interest, and I’m thinking polishing the factory scales would look really nice, not to mention likely cheaper. I’m just unsure of the complete process to do it. I’m not looking for Vallotton levels of shine necessarily, but maybe something like the black side of the Sun and Moon Chap. I know Evil D contoured and polished that Kiwi and that turned out GREAT! It sounds like the majority is just (wet?) sanding with progressively finer sandpaper, but I’m unsure if there’s anything that needs to be done to “finish” it off once you’ve reached the level of polish you want. I also know G10 is nasty stuff, and I would need to be cautious.

[Pancake]

Yes, you sum it up good: start with rougher grit sandpaper and go finer and finer.
Depends on if you want to change contouring or just remove the texture, you can start with somewhat finer grit, maybe 200, it depends.

If you are happy with the sandpaper finish, then just grab some piece of cloth, apply some green polishing compound and polish it even more. If you have polishing wheel, do it with it, but be careful, it can grab anything.
Mask is necessary.

[Ez556]

I don’t think I want to contour much, more so just remove most of the texture. So the green compound is what brings out the shine? It sounds like essentially I’d use sandpaper to get to the level of texture I want, then use the polishing compound to finish off whatever level of texture that is.

[TomAiello]

I've put some time into learning to polish G-10, and I am still trying to get a real 'shine' out of it.

I have been using wet sanding, progressively up to 2000 grit (80 to shape, then 200, 400, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000), then polishing compound (I have both green and pink, and have used them both, sometimes in sequence, with a sewn buffing wheel), and finishing with a fiberglass wax compound I got at a boat store.

I'm still not happy with the finished product. I've actually given up on polishing my G-10 scales until I work it out, practicing on random scraps of G-10.

Has anyone tried polishing with a Dremel with a felt wheel?

I've also tried higher grits (up to 5000) but still am not pleased with my results.

Anyone with more tips, I'd definitely appreciate the pointers. :)

[Pancake]

I don’t think I want to contour much, more so just remove most of the texture. So the green compound is what brings out the shine? It sounds like essentially I’d use sandpaper to get to the level of texture I want, then use the polishing compound to finish off whatever level of texture that is.

Yes, essentialy its exactly how did you describe it.

One thing I would point out, the lower the grit of sandpaper, the less time you will spend on removing texture, but then the more you will spend on polishing.
I would not start with too low of a grit, try around 200, it´s pretty aggressive for this case IMO. If 200 grit will take too much time, then which to coarser grit.
Dont go heavy handed, let the sandpaper do the work and change it often. If you are really after that finish, then you have to remove all the previous scratches from lower grit sandpaper, which means spending a lot more time with finer and finer grit. Another method is going across the previous scratch pattern, then you will better see if you removed all the previous scratches.
When I did contouring on my Native Chief, I ended on 400, maybe 500 grit and polished it. it was good enough for me, but you can go much finer before compounds.

I've put some time into learning to polish G-10, and I am still trying to get a real 'shine' out of it.

Has anyone tried polishing with a Dremel with a felt wheel?

I've also tried higher grits (up to 5000) but still am not pleased with my results.

Anyone with more tips, I'd definitely appreciate the pointers. :)

Would you mind posting some photos? i would llike to see it.
i dont know what could be wrong with this, maybe you are not removing all the previous grit scratches completly...

[TenGrainBread]

Have you tried a G10 scale with the polished finish you're describing? I'd be worried about it being too slippery. For example, the G10 texture on the Shaman is about as smooth as I would go - it has almost too little traction as is, and it's not polished to the extent you're describing.

[BG-ThatsMe]

I wet sanded mine with 600 grit to knock down the factory g10 texture. It took very little time to get the scales “smoothed out”. You won’t get a polished look at 600 grit, but you’ll get close to the smooth g10 cruwear models that knifecenter did a couple years ago.

I put the sand paper on a flat glass surface, added water and gently moved the scales in a sanding motion. It took very little effort, surprisingly little actually.

[Ez556]

So, tonight I went for it between church services and this is how it turned out. I placed a sheet of sand paper in a tray of water about a quarter inch deep and gently worked it back and forth for a while, progressing from 350 to 600 to 1500 grit. I am extremely pleased with the finish the 1500 grit paper gave the G10, I’m not even planning on using any polishing compound. This is way more polished than I was originally wanting, it’s basically mirrored, but I really like it. There are a few parts that you can tell I probably could have worked a bit more with the lower grit paper, but for now I’m happy with it. It’s the first time I’ve “modded” a knife, so it’s good enough for me.

[Enactive]

So, tonight I went for it between church services and this is how it turned out. I placed a sheet of sand paper in a tray of water about a quarter inch deep and gently worked it back and forth for a while, progressing from 350 to 600 to 1500 grit. I am extremely pleased with the finish the 1500 grit paper gave the G10, I’m not even planning on using any polishing compound. This is way more polished than I was originally wanting, it’s basically mirrored, but I really like it. There are a few parts that you can tell I probably could have worked a bit more with the lower grit paper, but for now I’m happy with it. It’s the first time I’ve “modded” a knife, so it’s good enough for me.

Looks great! Nice work. :cool:

[Ric]

Very nicely done. Thanks for sharing.

How does it feel now in hand?

[Pancake]

Great job! Love the looks. I might do the same to my Chief.

[Mushroom]

They came out great, EZ! Nice work.

[Ez556]

Very nicely done. Thanks for sharing.

How does it feel now in hand?

It feels like a completely different knife for one. For whatever reason, the knife feels a whole lot more dense as well, though that may just have to do with something I did reassembling it. Obviously with less texture grip is decreased a bit, but as long as your hands aren’t overly dry or overly wet they kind of stick to it still, like gripping a pane of glass. I left the edges how they were from the factory, so that also helps when gripping the knife normally and it also gives it a two tone polished/brushed look like you might find on a watch case.

[SG89]

This is way more polished than I was originally wanting, it’s basically mirrored, but I really like it.
[img]https://imgdump5.novarata.net/z58il3.jpg[/img

Great job Ez!

[RustyIron]

So, tonight I went for it between church services and this is how it turned out.

That came out looking really nice. I much prefer it over what it would have been had you taken down thetexture all the way.

[Mr Blonde]

That looks really nice, thanks for sharing!

[Ez556]

So, tonight I went for it between church services and this is how it turned out.

That came out looking really nice. I much prefer it over what it would have been had you taken down thetexture all the way.

I may be misunderstanding what you are saying, but I did take the texture down all the way. Running your fingernail over it feels like glass. The pattern you see is 100% due to the G10 material itself.

[RustyIron]

Oh? Smooth? Then it's the pattern I like. I would have thought a smooth surface would be a solid shade of black.

And really, patterns are better on a working surface. Blemishes that are sure to occur over time are less visible.

[Ez556]

I thought it was going to be more solid black as well, but it turned out to have a really slick woven pattern to it. Definitely better than I expected, I thought you needed contoured G10 to get nice patterns.

[foofie]

Very nice!
I have tried this, but did not use the flat pan/full sheet of sand paper. As a result, I think my sanding was not consistent across the slab scale. When I would go up to a higher grit - some areas would polish well and others would not. Kinda splotchy. I would re-sand and work my way back up in grit - and it was splotchy in different areas.

I might have to redo them.