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Ferrum Forge Falcon Wing. Tried polishing just the grooves on this side. Any tips on polishing Ti would be appreciated. Is it detrimental to the knife to do so?
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reswright
3850
Nov 19, 2020
Lots of different ways to sand or resurface titanium. One of the simplest ways is to give a back and forth sand job with 400 then 1000 and up grit wet or dry sandpaper -- leaves it with a satiny finish. The more precise you are keeping that motion confined to two dimensions, the better the 'satin' will look -- the sloppier you are the scratchier your finish will look. The more stages of sandpaper grit you go through, the less it'll look satiny and the more it'll just look smooth. The thing is, for most of what I just said, you def. want to take the scales off the knife, because you DON'T want fine grit abrasives collecting inside the knife and getting into the pivot, etc. If all you want to do is kind of put a coarse shine on it, Scotch Brite pads with that same, controlled, back and forth motion in a straight line will work just fine and I really like the rough shine they put on the metal, but be warned that you'll still be generating loose grit and it's still probably best for you to break the knife down before you resurface the scale. It's possible to mirror polish titanium... but very labor intensive, with at least four or five phases starting out with a coarse grit and ending up with two or three different lapping stages where you're spreading a cutting compound on the sandpaper before you sand. Oh, it's beautiful when you're done! Seriously so. Alas, then you get to discover how deeply annoying it is to have spent all that time getting a beautiful mirror polish on the scales just to see how bad it scratches up the first time you put it in your pocket, and being able to see every new nick and scratch because of the mirror polish. It's also possible to polish titanium with a wirebrush, but be warned you get some adhesive wear there -- the metal from the brush sticks to the surface of the titanium.
TheDragon
6
Nov 20, 2020
reswrightThank you for all of the advice. I had the knife apart when I started the polishing of the grooves as well as the first time I tried to mod this one. (very well made knife by the way, nice tight tolerances on everything). The first time I tried anything on it was using a "rust eraser" just to knock the coarseness of the Ti finish on the pocket clip. That worked pretty well. As far as mirror polish, not going to happen for a daily carry. Like you said, too easy to scratch. The grooves I polished with lapping compound. The kind used for lapping valves in a motor. maybe not ideal, but it worked pretty well. the tool I used to polish with was a 1/4" dowel rod I sharpened in a pencil sharpener.
reswright
3850
Nov 20, 2020
TheDragonGood use of those elements. High polish in the grooves is a badass look IMO.
TheDragon
6
Nov 19, 2020
And yes, the scratches up around the pivot are from using this as a daily carry. The other side is even worse. Getting well worn.
erickong
7411
Nov 19, 2020
TheDragonNothing wrong with some patina and character
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