A few days ago, I decided I didn't like the finish on the BK-17. It is much similar to skateboard tape in its appearance and texture. I find that somewhat strange for a knife to be so rough. Therefore, I decided I wanted to strip the finish off and go with a classic stainless look.
Hitting the forums I found several other folks that shared my opinion and whom had stripped their Beckers. One agent often used is Citrusstrip. This paint and finish remover is none fuming and biodegradable. I dunked my BK-17 in this gloop and threw it into a disposable cake pan and waited for 20 hours.
I rinsed the agent off with hot water and tried removing the finish with a wire brush. I had expected the finish to come right off but had no results. I was stumped for a while until I remembered I had a dental pick. I was able to put a scratch into the finish and amazingly the pick slid under the coating. The coating had become like a latex. By sticking the pick under this skin I was able to raise it up enough to pull large bits off. Together with the pick and a razor blade, I managed to scrape off of the old coating off within an hour.
It will nose need lots of sanding to give it a a bright finish and remove the scratches that the coating removal left behind. I look forward to a finish product in a few days!
UPDATE: After discussing my finishing options with some of the guys in #sharpthings, I decided to clean up the blade really good before I choose my route. Under the extremely rough traction coating is a stonewash finish. All it took was a good scrub with hot water and dish soap to make this knife look pretty darn good. I'll leave it like this for a while.
