Scratched Up Case 6254 Trapper

[Stoneman44]

I bought this '01 Tony Bose Case trapper off ebay a couple of weeks ago. I knew it had a few scratches, however, I didn't realize that an angle/bench grinder had been taken to the main blade! I'm not complaining because of the price I paid but, if possible, I'd like to clean the blade up.

Is there anything I can do to take the scratches out of this blade and retain the mirror finish on the SS blades? Does anyone do that kind of work? Would it be cost effective?

Thanks for your comments in advance. I'm a newbie to the pocket knife market.

[edge213]

I've never tried to get grinder marks out. Figured to much metal would be lost. But welcome to AAPK.

[Stoneman44]

Thank you.

The scratches are really not deep. It's more cosmetic than, how would you say it...structural? It's almost like they took the finish off but didn't get into the "meat" of the blade. Hopefully the previous owner's hands didn't take the brunt of this "accident".

[treefarmer]

to AAPK, Stoneman44!
One of the real knife mechanics should be along with some real advice.
Here's my suggestion being a novice, I have removed some scratches from a few knives by laying the blade against progressively finer sheets of emery paper on top of a perfectly flat scrap piece of granite counter top. Beginning with maybe 240 grit and ending with 2000 grit. Keeping the blade flat, it will create some more scratches but they too will eventually polish out. Continue rubbing back and forth and it will eventually get the damage where it's tolerable. With lots of elbow grease and patience mine turned out pretty good.
The real mechanics have buffing wheels that will clean a blade like that in a heart beat.
Treefarmer

[just bob]

You can improve this greatly yourself. Start with 600 grit sandpaper then 800, then 1000, then 1200, then polish. Make sure you get the scratches from each step out before you start on the next. Alternate direction of grinding, use some light oil when sanding. A while back Dale recommended never using anything coarser than 600 and that is good advice. Anything coarser will leave deep scratches. May not be perfect but it will be a lot better and you can do it within an hour yourself. Post a pic when it's done.

[just bob]

I should have said alternate direction of sanding not grinding. Sorry

[Stoneman44]

Thank you all! The advice and the welcomes are much appreciated!

[just bob]

I thought about this some more and if you really want a nice blade the best thing to do would be buy another 54 and switch the blades. You can buy a nice yellow 3254 for about $30. Get one and switch the big blades out and resell the yellow. You'd probably only lose $10 - $15 on the deal.