Last night I attacked the Laser Strike with a can of Kleen Strip. In about five minutes the powder coat lifted off the blade and came off like a banana peel. Underneath the powder coat is some sort of grey primer or other coating that is not affected by the paint stripper.

Notice the ‘ESEE-LS’ engraving color versus the round logo color. The ‘ESEE-LS’ was not etched with the etching solution and is the same as it was from the factory. In time this will become very faint.

As you can see in the photo above the grey coating makes the blade look a little worn and dull. We want worn and shiny. Out came the sandpaper and scotch brite pads and I sanded the entire piece of steel.

You can see some of the color coming out of the engraving. I am guessing the dark color is gunk and/or oxidation from the etching process. Over time the engraved areas will likely darken again as a natural patina takes effect. You’ll also notice here the lines in the steel from the factory grinding.

After the sanding was done, I put the handles back on and set the knife to the stone and strop for a while. The steel needs some further preparation for use, mainly grinding a square edge on the spine of the knife so that it will reliable spark a ferrocerium rod. As it is right now the corners of the spine are too round to get a spark.

It is starting to look like a proper woods knife, it just needs some wood handles.