A couple of questions about customization or copying of Spyderco model features. And for the record, I thought long and hard where to put this post, at first I thought about Bladeforums Tinkering/Embellishment section or somewhere over on the USN forums, but when I've posted questions there the answers vary widely. Since my questions are somewhat specific to Spyderco, I thought I'd put this here. The topic of this post leans heavily towards knifemakers and hobbyists, versus someone who just purchases a knife to cut stuff and their interests ends there.
First, blade finishing, specifically stonewash/polishing. The Slysz Bowie and Techno have incredibly polished stonewashed finishes on their blades and scales. How can I most closely recreate this effect? I have a vibratory stone polisher and assorted stone media, but my question is more about the technique. Do I start with a coarse media, move to medium, and then a fine? Will the medium and/or fine just remove the scratches from the coarse stones? How is the high polish achieved? Is it just stone media from the stone-washing or do you think they use a high-speed buffer wheel (I've observed these buffer wheels in a factory tour video)?
Second, a feature also found on both the Bowie and the Techno is a rounded blade spine and/or scales (Nick Shabazz calls this "champhoring" in his review of these knives). If this were wood I'd say this is done with a router bit, but what would be a way of recreating this on a knife blade? Belt sander? High-grit, low grit, or a progression?
I really like how these small details give the knife a more high-end refinement and would like to recreate some of these features on many of the Spydercos that I already own.
Thank you.