All About Pocket Knives

When you have a knife with lettering down into the metal - incuse (?) like on a Case Buffalo and the black coloring is gone from the lettering what do you use to get the color back? I have tried permanent marker and black model car paint and neither seem to work very well. Thanks for the help.

I remember on Case Collector Club there is a guy (user name:hardman) that explains how he did this. You might try there.

depending how deep the etch is I would start experimenting on a practice metal with dyed black epoxy.

Gary

Before I spent all my time and money collecting and repairing knives I used to make my own fishing lures.
There is a powder coat type paint that I used to use to color lures. It is called Pro-Tec Powder Paint.
Just Google "Pro-Tec Powder Paint" and you will find it. I see Cabela's has it as well as Amazon.

You cure it with heat; about 20 min at 250° so you might want to have the knife apart to do the paint.
If it is durable enough for jig heads and spinner blades, I would think it would do fine in the metal where sits down inside sort of protected.

I'd probably degrease the blade, then wipe it with "cold blue" sold for touching up the finish on gun metal. After a moment or two, rub the surface of the knife with a piece of denim or similar "hard" fabric until the surface bluing is gone, leaving the blue in the etching. I've done this on a number of handsaws so I could see (what was left of) the original etch.

Cold bluing only works on carbon steel, not stainless.

The problem here is that the lettering is so shallow. You can fill it in with paint but when you go to clean up the blade with 0000 steel wool it pulls the paint out. Also using the buffer wheel does the same thing. I tried using a pc. of scrap leather and still not all of the paint remained. Tool black was also suggested. I don't know how hard that would be to get off the blade? I think I will call Tom Abbott he worked in the Case factory and may be able to point me in the right direction. I'll post the information if I get it figured out. I don't see a Case collectors club as referred to in this post earlier. Do you have a link for that? I'd like to look.

Sorry about that. Here it is.

wrcase.com
scroll down to "Member Forums" under the "Collector Club" heading.

Not sure how much info available without joining.

edge213 wrote:Sorry about that. Here it is.

wrcase.com
scroll down to "Member Forums" under the "Collector Club" heading.

Not sure how much info available without joining.

You have to be a member of the Case Collector's Club to visit their forum. Gary Hardy is "Hardman" on that forum and a really great guy. I'll see if it was him with the tricks up his sleeve.

Hello, my good friend elvis thought this might apply to the discussion here. My first post in this forum, although I frequent the Case KNIFE FORUM.

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This process only works on DEEP BLADE etches. If you try what follows on the more modern surface "etch," which is really just paint on the surface of the blade without the color actually being deposited in a subsurface depression in the blade, I suspect you will do MUCH more harm than good.

If the etch needing repair has a gold fill, a good product to use is Liquid Leaf from Plaid. If it is any other color, use a good grade of enamel, the kind that is sold in tiny bottles for hobbyists. Clean the blade thoroughly using first mineral spirits and then alcohol. Vigorously shake your paint as the product has a tendency to settle and separate very quickly. Using a fine tipped artist's brush (cheaper the better), paint over the letters or design of the deep blade etch with your paint/coating. Do not try to paint the letters, just paint over them. Be sure you completely cover the etch and the area around it. At first, the paint/coating will hide the design of your etch under the coating. Then, you wait. You need to let it dry completely. Hours, not minutes. As it dries, you will see that the paint actually dries flat to the knife surface and the deep blade etch again becomes visible through the paint coating. Then, using a single edged razor blade, carefully lay the sharp edge of the razor blade very, very flat on the knife blade. Angle it slightly, being sure to keep the edge of the razor blade flat against the knife blade. Applying some pressure to the center of the razor blade to insure that the blade stays flat to the surface, slowly and carefully pull the razor blade along the length of the knife blade. (Remember, you are not trying to remove metal, only the unwanted portion of the coating. So, don't press too hard.) The razor scrapes the paint/coating off of the raised surface of the knife blade, leaving behind the paint that fills the subsurface areas of your blade etch. It may take a couple of passes to get it all. And, that's it. The blade etch is once again color filled. If you didn't get it completely the first time, try again.

Remember this only works on knives with a subsurface, preferably deep, blade etch. Here are pictures of some blades repaired using the above process. The Case Railsplitter Jack 5299 1/2 had lost its gold etched fill completely. So, there was no color at all on the blade. No black, no gold. The process described above is what brought the color back. The third picture is of two Case 5165 Folding Hunters that go back to 1976 and were a Bicentennial Commemorative. The top one shown was used by its previous owner and there was no color fill left to any part of the blade etch. It was 'restored' using the above process with blue and red enamel. The bottom knife in the picture is a factory original Bicentennial Folding Hunter to use for comparison. This one was more difficult as the blade etch was not as deep. So, this took several passes. I hope this helps you out.

Very nice work. I will be curious to see if this process works as well on blades that have been buffed and the edges of the etch are no longer sharp and as distinct.

Thank you Gary! Stick around for a while and just lurk. You might just like it here. Thanks again my friend.

That is great information. Thank you. I was getting in too much of a hurry and trying to take the paint off within 15 minutes. Once the paint dries and the blade is cleaned up how long should you wait before using wax on the blade?

Welcome to AAPK!

Thanks for the great information.
I hope you stay around or come back and visit from time to time.

just bob wrote:That is great information. Thank you. I was getting in too much of a hurry and trying to take the paint off within 15 minutes. Once the paint dries and the blade is cleaned up how long should you wait before using wax on the blade?

Gary might have joined just to answer the original question at my request and might not see this question Bob. I'd say that after the paint has dried and had some time to cure (maybe a day or two if the area is heated) it would be safe to wax it. Others might think this curing time is too long, but I prefer to err on the side of caution.

just bob wrote:That is great information. Thank you. I was getting in too much of a hurry and trying to take the paint off within 15 minutes. Once the paint dries and the blade is cleaned up how long should you wait before using wax on the blade?

Just saw your question. But, I don't have a great answer. And now I have decided to edit my first response. I am not sure it is EVER totally safe to wax a blade with etching. Whether it is original or restored using the process above. I think you always run the risk of removing some of the etch. That said, after completing the process described above, you should give the newly restored etch plenty of curing time prior to any waxing. Days, not hours. I Ren Waxed the Bicentennial Folding Hunter shown above a day after the completed restoration and that was too soon. I removed some of the coating I had just deposited. So, I had to start over. I have been thinking about putting a crystal clear enamel spray on the etch when completed and fully cured, which would give it nice gloss and protect it some, but I have not tried that yet. That would be like putting a clear coat on it, if you kind of think about it. Again, you would have to wait several days before trying that as well. The solvent in the crystal clear enamel could work on the color filled etch if it is not totally cured. I would say proceed VERY carefully before waxing any blade with an etch, and even more carefully after doing a restoration. I know this is not a very definitive answer, and for that I apologize.

In regards to whether or not the process would work on blades that have been buffed, I think your success could be compromised. The more crisp the etch, the better. I will tell you that the Bicentennial Folding Hunter shown above had been used pretty vigorously, so the etch was neither as deep nor as crisp as I would have liked for optimal results.

Thank you again for posting this the process seems to work fine and the lettering on this buffalo is very shallow. I'm going to let it set a few more days and try to clean it up a bit more.

That turned out well, Bob great info shared on this site

I have a similar question about a celluloid handle that had advertising stamped into the celluloid. Some of the coloring in the letting is gone, and I wonder if this process would work on celluloid as well.

I had a Brown Shoe knife with lettering on the handle that was bad. I colored it in with a felt tip marker and cleaned it up with steel wool and it was great. I think it depends how deep the lettering is and if the handle is jigged. The next time I do a blade I think I will try fingernail polish. Let it set 48 hrs. then clean it up and then use the clear coat fingernail polish- on top - let it set and clean it up. I'm not sure if the polish is harder than the enamel. I'll experiment on an el cheapo.