Polishing my WE 1897 IOS myself!
Feb 5, 2012 19:51:08 GMT
Post by the_antposse on Feb 5, 2012 19:51:08 GMT
Greeting my fellow swordsmen!
Well, I finally got tired of looking at this blade with the grind marks still in it...polished grinding marks. I went to Walmarts auto dept. and got some 380, 400, 800, 1000 and 2000 grit wet or dry sand paper, grabbed said sword and set down to remove those grind marks. Now, being an old jarhead(marine for those who've never heard the term) I had in the past become accustomed to making things shiny, we didn't spend all our time in the field and our officers didn't usually bother watching over us in garrison, but Lord forbid a Sargent Major happening by and anything that was supposed to be gleaming like a mirror...wasn't! So I know how to do it! Having said that, seven days later after twenty three hours of hand polishing this piece...it is indeed shiny, like a mirror....BUT! There's microscopic grains in the metal....I could not believe this crap!
I looked closely at the blades of all my Windlass sword blades, none there.....looked at all my Cold Steel blades, none there, I looked at all my Chinese made Japanese sword blades, none there! Now I'm not a metallurgist, nor am I a smith, but it looks to me like an inferior steel has been used. Granted I didn't pay an exorbitant price for them but in most cases I payed less for my Windlass and Cold Steel swords than I did for this one and this is the kind of semprini I get...even having to polish it myself...needless to say I'm PISSED! I even waited overnight until today for my anger to subside... hasn't happened! So I'm unloading and I'm beginning to see that some people will give you a good deal and some people just don't give a semprini and will only screw you. Now, as to this being an inferior steel I stand to be corrected by the more knowledgeable among you...it acts like a tempered steel in that it springs back but I just don't know, I'm fairly well disgusted at the moment....may an elephant caress them with his toes! :twisted:
Well, I finally got tired of looking at this blade with the grind marks still in it...polished grinding marks. I went to Walmarts auto dept. and got some 380, 400, 800, 1000 and 2000 grit wet or dry sand paper, grabbed said sword and set down to remove those grind marks. Now, being an old jarhead(marine for those who've never heard the term) I had in the past become accustomed to making things shiny, we didn't spend all our time in the field and our officers didn't usually bother watching over us in garrison, but Lord forbid a Sargent Major happening by and anything that was supposed to be gleaming like a mirror...wasn't! So I know how to do it! Having said that, seven days later after twenty three hours of hand polishing this piece...it is indeed shiny, like a mirror....BUT! There's microscopic grains in the metal....I could not believe this crap!
I looked closely at the blades of all my Windlass sword blades, none there.....looked at all my Cold Steel blades, none there, I looked at all my Chinese made Japanese sword blades, none there! Now I'm not a metallurgist, nor am I a smith, but it looks to me like an inferior steel has been used. Granted I didn't pay an exorbitant price for them but in most cases I payed less for my Windlass and Cold Steel swords than I did for this one and this is the kind of semprini I get...even having to polish it myself...needless to say I'm PISSED! I even waited overnight until today for my anger to subside... hasn't happened! So I'm unloading and I'm beginning to see that some people will give you a good deal and some people just don't give a semprini and will only screw you. Now, as to this being an inferior steel I stand to be corrected by the more knowledgeable among you...it acts like a tempered steel in that it springs back but I just don't know, I'm fairly well disgusted at the moment....may an elephant caress them with his toes! :twisted:
) 
