Are there any knife makers left that do a high polish?

A few do them, for the few who want them.
 
I found Etching and stonewash tumbling sucked in the younger crowd...They Barely glance at Mirror Polishing.
 
When I look back close to 40 years ago and almost everything I made was mirror finished
wow. Its pretty rare for me to do one now, though 80 percent of the slipjoints I make are
mirror on the flats and either hand finished or machine satin on the grind. So essentially a
dual finish.
Ken.
 
I think any finish boils down to personal tastes. While I appreciate the work that goes into a true mirror finish, it is not my cuppa tea (has nothing to do with scratches or wear). I prefer a higher grit hand satin. I know quite a few folks that like the way machine finishes look on blades and, yes, I have friends that do prefer a high polish/mirror (and a few that actually like flat black blades....to each their own).

What is even more interesting to me is the perceived shift in tastes across the knife world over the years. As has been pointed out, in the 70'/80's and early 90's mirror finishes were the mark of quality for most custom makers. Keep in mind I am not talking about factory. mid-90's seems to have been about the time that hand satin or high grade machine finishes started to become for the fad. Post 2001 it looked like high-grit hand satin and even some of the better tumbled finishes came into fashion.

I've done a total of two mirror finishes. on 20CV/M390 blades. I prefer the higher carbide steels such as S90V, 10V and S110V as well as 20CV. I brought a few S110V blades to 2500 grit and found them to look almost gawdy, and no where near a mirror finish.

Nowadays, when I see a high polish blade, while I appreciate the amount of time and effort goes into it, I can't help but think of a chromed out 1911. :)
 
i remember first time i picked up a mirror finished big bear...the steel was so smooth it looked like some kind of metallic liquid bound inside the form of a blade...it is still as impressive now as it was then. It looks best with hollow grinds for sure, also those mirror polishes Japanese blades are pretty amazing, I have only seen one or two. Some day I will master the high polish but for now its taken about 100 blades and 5 years just to get a working satin finish in decent time.
 
I personally like mirror polished blades and make many that way, but have learned to listen to my customers and now offer mirror, satin, grit blasted, grit blasted with a light polish, polished with black etching and bead blasted with black etching and the occasional tarnished/rusted carbon for my re-enactment customers. There is definitely a significant difference in man hours to produce a simple grit blasted finish to a fine mirror finished blade and price should reflect it. I work with many different stainless and non-stainless steels and each have their own results to the different finishes. With that said I will say that my big Baldor buffer is the most dangerous machine/tool in my shop. I had to have 3 fingers stitched back together, pulled one blade from my stomach (shallow angular entrance) and pull two from my leg from thrown blades. I now have a enclosure box with a dust collector attached that has proven to protect me when an occasional oops happens.

Jim Wharton
Stag & Steel
www.stagandsteelhandmadeknives.com
 
i can, and i have. I see little point in doing it to most any of the knives i make. that said it does look great on a straight razor. buyer gets what they want tho on a user i try to talk them off that cause of the "first scratch" issue and as you woudl think they pay extra for it
 
I had a guy once want a kydex sheath for his mirror polished blade:D I said "buddy, how how long do you want it to stay polished?" After a few times in the field it's going to look like you took a Brillo pad to it o_O
 
Carrying a $10 Rough Rider slip joint with red jigged bone today. It is really a very nice slip joint and amazing workmanship at 10x the price.

I do like the mirror polish on that $10 knife :)
 
its amazing they can mirror such an inexpensive blade. i must be doing it the wrong way :mad: lol.
 
john april said:
its amazing they can mirror such an inexpensive blade. i must be doing it the wrong way :mad: lol.
Click to expand...
It is amazing they can make a lock back whittler slip joint that rivals a Case knife for $10 .

Honestly the red jigged bone would cost me more then the entire knife
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top