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I received a number of Transulcent Victorinox Spartans from Tim/Felinevet yesterday - that's really fast service for this order and that 84 Soldier.
This is in no way anything negative - these SAKs are used as distinct from "secondhand" where the possibility of unused and mint condition are possible.

But as most of use know here on SOSAK - the cellidor/plastic SAK handle scales marr and scratch very easily - even one day's pocket carry with keys or change will show many marks.

So these are not "mint" by any stretch of the imagination, and because the handles scratch so easily it's hard to call any used SAK "excellent". I consider these to be used in good to very good condition.

But at $5 each shipped it's hard to quibble - and I consider these BARGAINs of the first magnitude.

Someone suggested these as Christmas gifts,
well, personally, I couldn't give these as "presents", just because of the obvious used condition....
- however these probably would be great as a handout, or small token of appreciation - or unexpected useful "gift".......

These still attractive transulcent Spartans all had typical pocket worn scratches on the scales - some more than others - none were particularly bad - so these were probably fairly "young" SAKs. They all had some debris/dirt - but no more than typical suburban/clean pocket carry.


I picked the worst conditioned transulcent red ("Ruby") Spartan and did a clean up job.





It may be hard to id the renovated Spartan - it's the open Ruby one in the middle

The main work this time was to clean up the transulcent scales as much I could.

First worked with some metal polish to get rid or minimize as much of the scratches as possible - this showed immediate results*. The next step was to simply use some car polish to shine up the scales - it doesn't quite bring the handles back to shiney pristine new condition but it does reduce the scratches and minimize the deeper ones.



It's hard to see the resuscitation even in these close-ups - because of the flat and direct lighting. But one can see the shield logo is much more polished. The view of the back shows the polishing a bit better:



(just in case you still can't see the difference the open ruby Spartan on the right is the re-polished - one can see the insides better because the scales are now clearer)

* These transulcent handles do look somewhat nice in their used matte finish - as opposed to renovated polished, which will still be suject to further future scratches - whereas a matte finish would show these scratches less.

I may consider working one with some steel wool to get an even matte finish that looks deliberately done - as opposed to from wear.

I cleaned up/refurbished a couple more - a blue/sapphire and a red/ruby -

The ruby was in slightly better condition than the one I worked on previously -
the blue/sapphire was actually in very good condition, and cleaned/polished up a treat -
not quite - but on first glance could be mistaken for new...
(well, OK I might exaggerating a bit - but it is very nice)



On the first ruby I cleaned up both the blades needed sharpening - the main blade definitely had shiney flats and would not cut thin folded paper
(I use the fold on flyers to do a quick test - as unsharp blades slip off the fold without cutting).

The main blade of the blue/sapphire, and the small blade of the second ruby needed sharpening (slips off fold).

Overall I am very pleased with these purchases from Tim/Felinevet.

It may seem a lot of work to clean up these knives - but I find it kind of theraputic - the improvements from the work are worthwhile.......
and it keeps me off the streets!

Rejuvinating handles -

For quick resucitation - just try polishing with car polish.

If car polish doesn't quite do it - then go to something with a bit more cutting power like polishing compound as suggested by Def above. I used metal polish simply because I couldn't find my polishing compound - and it was the type of metal polish sold for knives (nothing fancy, w. aluminum oxide compound).

Using car polish for the final polish does really bring out the shine - and seems to minimize even the deeper scratches that might not have been completely removed.

If the polishing compound isn't enough, one might have to resort to rubbing compound - pretty drastic and probably at the point of diminishing returns and when one should consider just changing out the handle scales. (then progressively graduate to the finer polishing compound and finish with car polish)

Car polish and polishing and rubbing compounds are designed for car paints, which are plastic/acrylic based, so that is very suitable, if not ideal, for the plastic SAK knife handles.