Help me fix my Sage 1

[EDC Honeybee]

So, I picked up a Sage 1 Cf at the seconds sale. It had a broken tip. I reground the spine to create a nicer shape. In the process I managed to mess up and have the tool mark the presentation side of the blade. Not a big deal for a user knife, but it bothered me that it was caused by my bad craftsmanship. So I went to work trying to polish it out.

Turns out the marks were deeper than some 2000 or 1000 grit would fix. This means I would need to re polish the whole blade to get it out. I started the project. 200 grit, 400 grit, 1000 grit, 2000 grit. But for some reason it just looks terrible. I dont want to proceed to polishing compound with how it currently looks. I have read instructions online about mirror-polishing blades, and have even done it with one of my 8cr13mov CRKTs, but I think I didn't consider how different S30V would be to polish. Right now I would say it looks terrible. Otherwise the knife functions great.

Really just looking for some advice on how to be less frustrated with this and how to fix up this beautiful knife. It has me more upset than it probably should. In the end it only cost me $5, and is still a suitable user, but if I am not proud of the knife, I know I will never use it. I do not have a bench grinder or belt sander.

Here are pics of the tip broken and the regrind with the mark. I havent been able to get good lighting to show the current state of the polishing, but I am going to try again when I get home from work.

[SG89]

I reground a cricket and it is ugly as a mud fence but I like it anyways. If it was something expensive then I would be upset maybe but it wasn't. Embrace the mistakes made and put that knife in your pocket everyday and make it a user

[El Gato]

EDC, I know exactly how you feel, because I would feel the same. No reason for it we know, especially on a $5 second, but the fact is every time you open that knife and see that blade it is going to bother you.....because it would bother me too. We love our knives and feel responsible when we accidently do harm, even with good intent. The Spyder Lady is right.....we know that......but we still can't help wishing we could make it right.

I sure don't have any good suggestions for you, but I do share the feelings.........even though that doesn't help a dang bit........ :o

[hoimin]

Maybe a stonewash is in order.

[EDC Honeybee]

@spydergirl88 and @el gato, thanks for the kind words. Its rather silly. Glad you can relate Gato.

@Hoimin IDK why I didnt think of this. Stonewash is great at covering all sorts of garbage and still giving an nice uniform look. I have only done it on softer steels, so I'm not sure how hard it will be with this one, but I think that just might be the solution. I will probably proceed with this tonight since I already have some medium to use for a stonewash. If someone has a better idea than a stonewash, chime in soon!

Thank you so much for the suggestion. Changed my attitude about the project from :mad: to :D

[Johnnie1801]

Acid etch might look nice too

[hoimin]

Glad to hear it's an attractive and possible solution. Looking forward to seeing the results!

[EDC Honeybee]

Acid etch might look nice too

I use vinegar with the stonewash, which gives it some darkness/contrast. I dont think I have access to any acids that would be suitable for s30v. I have only done vinegar and mustard patinas on high carbon blades before. There might be some DIY ways to concentrate acids at home that I will look into. If I do that though I will still combine it with a stonewash, because more often than not I am unhappy with how my acid etching turns out if I try to do patterns.

[awa54]

I'd go after the scuff/dig with a steel wire wheel first to try to blend the sharp edges of the damaged area (following the direction of the original grind pattern). I'd also take the whole spine down a bit from just above the hole to give the blade a look closer to a shortened version of the original, but that's just me. Belt sanders are cheap, sometimes even cheaper than a coarse diamond bench stone! Just be sure to keep the blade cool if you use one.

Is that a SB Caly 3??? I'll trade ya *my* belt sander for it

Were all of the items in that pic seconds? What kind of discounts are given on the knives at the sale?

...looks like a fixer-upper's dream to me! I'd be making a worker-esque blade profile for the Chap.

[EDC Honeybee]

I'd go after the scuff/dig with a steel wire wheel first to try to blend the sharp edges of the damaged area (following the direction of the original grind pattern). I'd also take the whole spine down a bit from just above the hole to give the blade a look closer to a shortened version of the original, but that's just me. Belt sanders are cheap, sometimes even cheaper than a coarse diamond bench stone! Just be sure to keep the blade cool if you use one.

Is that a SB Caly 3??? I'll trade ya *my* belt sander for it

Were all of the items in that pic seconds? What kind of discounts are given on the knives at the sale?

...looks like a fixer-upper's dream to me! I'd be making a worker-esque blade profile for the Chap.

Already took the edges off the mark with sandpaper, so thats not an issue really anymore. Most of my lack of larger tools is from space and moving, not money. Since I am in grad school I had been moving around to apartments. I only recently got a garage to work in.

That is an SB Caly 3. I almost passed it over since it brought me just over budget, but I figured I might regret it so I picked up the SB and carbon fiber Caly 3. I thought I would like the CF more, but honestly the SB Caly has become my new favorite knife.

Those are all seconds. There is a lot more information about the knives in my other thread here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=69036&start=40" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; This is my first batch of real spyderco knives unless you count my honeybee :P

The SB Caly 3 was $70 if I remember right. Maybe $75. The carbon fiber caly 3 was $95. The Sage 1 was $5 with broken tip. The Chaparral CF was $10 broken tip. The Delica was $10 broken tip. The ZDP dragonfly was $20 broken tip. I think generally the prices were 30-40% of MSRP. The broken tip models were considerably cheaper than others. Forum natives were $45-50. I think camo PM2s were $50ish as well. Nice discounts definitely.

I have the stonewash in process right now and will post before and afters when I am done tonight.

[EDC Honeybee]

So I think I am losing my mind. After about 45 minutes of tumbling and shaking the knife with the stone I use (small smooth stones), it didnt even touch the blade. The blade feels smoother, but looks the same as it did on both sides. Left it in the vinegar for about 5 hours. Not a single bit of darkening either. Going to try it again with a different solution and stuff. Hopefully it works this time. Possible I used too much liquid the first time around.

EDIT: Tried boiling vinegar and leaving it in for about an hour. Looks like I will need to use something stronger for any sort of etch.

[awa54]

wow, those broken tip deals are crazy!

makes me want to move to CO

[El Gato]

So I think I am losing my mind. After about 45 minutes of tumbling and shaking the knife with the stone I use (small smooth stones), it didnt even touch the blade. The blade feels smoother, but looks the same as it did on both sides. Left it in the vinegar for about 5 hours. Not a single bit of darkening either. Going to try it again with a different solution and stuff. Hopefully it works this time. Possible I used too much liquid the first time around.

EDIT: Tried boiling vinegar and leaving it in for about an hour. Looks like I will need to use something stronger for any sort of etch.

Kinda makes a strong statement about the blade steel in that knife doesn't it? :D

[EDC Honeybee]

Kinda makes a strong statement about the blade steel in that knife doesn't it? :D

Sure does.Ive never owned a knife in S30v or similar. Mostly high carbon steels and the cheaper Chinese stainless. This s30v is some tough stuff.

[hoimin]

So I think I am losing my mind. After about 45 minutes of tumbling and shaking the knife with the stone I use (small smooth stones), it didnt even touch the blade. The blade feels smoother, but looks the same as it did on both sides. Left it in the vinegar for about 5 hours. Not a single bit of darkening either. Going to try it again with a different solution and stuff. Hopefully it works this time. Possible I used too much liquid the first time around.

EDIT: Tried boiling vinegar and leaving it in for about an hour. Looks like I will need to use something stronger for any sort of etch.

From what I've seen on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gc38C1WPoo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;), bigger rocks might be necessary for this steel.

[EDC Honeybee]

So I think I am losing my mind. After about 45 minutes of tumbling and shaking the knife with the stone I use (small smooth stones), it didnt even touch the blade. The blade feels smoother, but looks the same as it did on both sides. Left it in the vinegar for about 5 hours. Not a single bit of darkening either. Going to try it again with a different solution and stuff. Hopefully it works this time. Possible I used too much liquid the first time around.

EDIT: Tried boiling vinegar and leaving it in for about an hour. Looks like I will need to use something stronger for any sort of etch.

From what I've seen on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gc38C1WPoo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;), bigger rocks might be necessary for this steel.

Thanks for the great link. The stones I used were about that size or only slightly smaller, but of varying size. I think the other key is that I need to shake harder to be able to impact the steel more. I did more of a tumble, the way many do in the washing machine with these. Some more aggressive shaking might be in order

[Jazz]

Shake the crap out of it. I hate when I scratch a mod, but there's always one. On one Salt 1 mod, I really scratched it with the Dremel. I gave it a severe stone wash to cover it up, but it's still plain as day. Sometimes you have to live with it. Still annoying. I don't have any patience for sanding out deep scratches.

[EDC Honeybee]

So I havent given up on this, just took a short break for thanksgiving. I sort of liked how the light stonewash turned out over most of the blade. Now the presentation primary grind is mirror polished, while all other surfaces are factory with stonewash. Finally was able to get the s30v to take a polish. Need to do a bit more work with some polishing cream, but its 98% there. Going to wait on that until I put an edge on it. Going to probably give this one a polished edge to match the face. I will keep you posted with pictures as I go. I never did go deep enough to get out the whole mark, but got most of it out. Also considering polishing the spine, but We will see how it all goes. The spine is easy in comparison to the blade face.




EDIT: threw on an edge. Pretty happy with it. Also planning to take Awa54's idea and slim down the blade some more. Not super happy with the current shape. Too round to look like a beak like the others, but not smooth enough to look original. So I drew out in blue approximately what I will remove.




EDIT: Worked on the edge a bit more, gave it a shine, and changed the spine profile. I didnt do it quite as much as pictured above, but I am happy with the blade shape now. Assembled it and oiled it. Now it works and feels great. Here are some pictures of it finished.

[araneae]

Nice work!

[EDC Honeybee]

Nice work!

Thanks. I have continued polishing it with stropping compound and brasso. The polish has gotten a bit better. Very happy with the knife now. Still doesnt compete with the caly 3 or chaparral to me, but the sage is a nice knife anyhow. I like keeping it at my desk more than carrying it because of the overall size and poor blade/handle ratio, partially from the broken tip. The main problem is now I have 7 spydercos that I am very happy with. That puts me to about 25 folding knives total. Not sure I can justify buying more, but they all look sooo tempting. :)