I've been procrastinating on removing  the scratches from this 1969 Gerber MK 2 and would like to know how to do it. The scratches can barely be felt with a fingernail and are very shallow . If the blade is aimed downward the scratches can't be seen. The seller obviously knew that when he posted the photos. Ugh! Seller hornswoggled me!  Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated

First rule is leave it alone, past that I don’t know if it’s possible without it looking “cleaned”

I will agree with jeremy69, but another option is to contact Gerber and ask them.

Is that pitting around the serial number?  

I agree with the others. Leave it alone, the scratches are part of the knife's history.   SKIP

Thanks Guys, Appreciate the comments. I will leave it alone.

On 8/1/2025 at 4:07 PM, VNAMVET70 said:

I've been procrastinating on removing  the scratches from this 1969 Gerber MK 2 and would like to know how to do it. The scratches can barely be felt with a fingernail and are very shallow . If the blade is aimed downward the scratches can't be seen. The seller obviously knew that when he posted the photos. Ugh! Seller hornswoggled me!  Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated

I couldn't leave the scratches alone. Everytime I looked at the knife, I thought about removing them. The scratches were  bad on both sides of the blade. I thought the scratches might get worse and start rusting in the sratches. I got some good advise and what not to do from Dan at Gerber Knives.  Tell me what you think.  Like to hear your thoughts. 

I think it looks fine.....not overdone. good job.

Marv

Great job!  It will look great next to your other other knives.  Good soldiers maintain their equipment.

Personally Id of left it alone, however you have done it sympathetically and not overdone it. Id be inclined to believe that something might actually be inside of the sheath itself causing the scratches, it might be worth getting a pipe cleaner and cleaning any possible debris that might be hiding. You'd be surprised what a simple grain of sand can do to a blade over time. 

 

Call it a preventative measure if you will, a nice blade too. Might have to dig mine out at some point.

 

 

VNAMVET0,

 I think you did the right thing with this knife. Plus, I know exactly what mean. Every time you looked at it those scratches, it drove you crazy. 

This Gerber was a good candidate for a little extra “cleaning”.  The handle has just the right about of paint loss with few dings here and there. A gentle smoothing out of the blade is all it needed.

 

This example of an Everett knife is another case where it needed a little love. Much more than your Gerber.   It certainly looked as though it went through the war.  However, it also looked like some teenager took a grinder to it.  That cannot abide.

It’s always a gamble when you’re trying to fix a high dollar knife, but sometimes it has to be done. The result was a blade that was about a 1/16” inch narrower that the original.

Now it looks like the blade has scratches, but it certainly doesn’t look trashed. In fact I left it a little scratchy. I didn’t want to change the character of the knife. I think it turned out great. Isn’t that what a GI might do…take his little sharpening stone and smooth it out a little.

In most cases, I will leave it alone, but sometimes it just screams to be helped out a little. You can do it without losing the vintage look.  Don’t overdo it.

Marv

The before and after pix tell me you did some critical worth while thinking planning the outcome.  Knowing when to stop working on it is key. You nailed it !