Belt Sander Mirror Polish

The belt loaded with green compound will always have some compound left, if you load it with diamond paste, make it the 3 or 6 as they are coarser than the green.

I recommend you get a couple more strop belts as all the grits mentioned are pretty essential.

If you can only get 1 more belt, I recommend you load it with 6 micron paste (a bit finer than 2000 grit) and leave the rouge loaded strop as it is. But 0.5- 6 microns is a pretty large leap
 
Travis has given the best advice, an intermediate grit or two before the chromium oxide. Change the pitch of the blade to have the scratches of each grit be at a different orientation, then you can tell which belt made which scratches and when you've removed the previous. All power sharpening removes tons of metal. That's the point of power machinery, to perform work faster. You could calculate the speed of your belt and compare that to the number of strokes on an 8 inch stone needed to match the length of abrasive the blade meets in a second. Even a soft cotton buffing pad with green chrome changes the final edge angle after quick passes.
 
Don't waste diamond paste on polishing. Use Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish. It works great:thumbup:.
 
you can remove just as much metal hand sharpening as you can with a powered system. with the slotted wheel though, you can maintain an edge without having to work up a burr.
 
Get two leather belts, and load one with .5 micron diamond, and the other with .25 micron diamond. Your blades will shine like a mirror and cut like a light sabre.:thumbup:
 
Hold on, I'm a little confused here.

Did you want to polish just the edge?:
P1010348.jpg


Or the entire blade?:
P1010037.jpg
 
Erdbeereis said:
Just the edge...

Erd
Click to expand...
I see, got a bit curious when you brought up the belt sander.

Erdbeereis said:
Would 1 micron give me a mirror edge?

Erd
Click to expand...
Yes, but the important part would be the steps before it. The steps in between grits have to be as small as possible up to about 1200 grit and you have to make sure you remove the previous scratch pattern throughout the entire width of the bevel, or else your edge will look polished, but "foggy".

I've personally lost my love for diamond abrasives and strops. I actually prefer the white rouge from the paper wheels system and Mother's Mag Polish, as they both seem to start out at say about 5 microns, but the final finish seems to be like 0.5 microns or less, indicating that the abrasive breaks down with use, covering a wider range of micron sizes, and saving a lot of time on finishing the edge.

If you have the proper tools it shouldn't be too hard considering you're using a full size belt sander. It would take maybe 5-10 minutes on my Worksharp, and I was putting a mirror polish on S110V.
 
I have a stupid question. What distance between the platen and the belt do y'all use on the HF sander? Are you using the platen, or are you using a slack area? Pics of your setup would be most helpful. Video even better.

Thanks.
 
I would be doing convex for my Khuk's, a few bushcraft knives, and machete's. Bevels for all others.
 
Personally, I tend toward working edges with my belt, but in that progression I usually end up with a rather high polish. Removing every scratch to perfection usually is not my goal so there will still be the occasional scratch from a coarser grit visible by the time I'm done, but that could be worked out with a bit more time between progressions.

My general progression is to use Norton Blaze belts down to 120, usually JUST the 120 to start the edge, but I have a 50 and an 80 as well, should I need to do major work. After the ceramic 120, I switch to 3M "Trizact" belts, sourced from a fellow named Doug Rising down south. He has them made specifically for him from the 3M material, and they tend to run smoother and truer than the ones you can pick up commercially. I use the A65, A20, A16, A6 and A3 belts (occasionally just the 65, 20 and 6), then follow that up with .5u Chromium Oxide semi-paste from Hand American on a surgi-sharp leather belt. The resulting edge is quite highly polished, and with sufficient work between the grit steps to make sure the ENTIRE scratch pattern from the previous grits was removed (from the whole bevel, not just the edge) then it would make a very appreciable mirror. I'm actually adding a 1u Boron Carbide from the same source to my progression on another leather belt, which should improve the final finish quite a bit by helping erase some of those more persistent scratches and blemishes.
 
Thanks Komi!

Do you think I'd benefit from using DMT diamond paste instead of my Lowes green compound on my leather belt?

I have a nicely polished edge, but I can still clearly see scratches from a coarser belt.

Erd
 
There are a few ways you can help get those scratches out. For sure, using a proper graded paste instead of a crayon will help. The chance of getting a single large particle stuck to the belt that puts a scratch on each time it comes past is lower with a graded paste. DMT, Hand American, and Ken Schwarz's stuff are all good options there. And don't limit yourself to diamond, either! Boron carbide, cubic boron nitride and Chromium Oxide are all great choices for finishing abrasives as well. Once you have your belts coated, be CAREFUL of cross-contamination! Keep them in baggies, and wipe the blade well between belts. No point in having a belt with quarter-micron polishing agent, if it's got a bunch of one-micron grit from the last knife spread over it.

The best way to eliminate those scratches is just take your time and make sure the new scratch pattern is COMPLETELY established and has erased the old one before you change belts. That's one of the reasons I like the Trizacts, actually, the abrasive grading is extremely precise, due to the structured, built-up design of the belt. Also, pick yourself up a loupe, 10x or so. With that and a good light, it's fairly easy to inspect the grind pattern and make sure you have successfully removed all the deeper scratches before you move on.
 
Are you talking about mirror polishing the edge or the entire blade? For the blade I use grits up to 8-900 then go to a sisal wheel loaded w/ gray rogue, then on to a sewn cotton wheel loaded w/ green rogue and the final cotton wheel loaded w/ pink rogue. DM
 
Erdbeereis said:
Thanks Komi!

Do you think I'd benefit from using DMT diamond paste instead of my Lowes green compound on my leather belt?

I have a nicely polished edge, but I can still clearly see scratches from a coarser belt.

Erd
Click to expand...
Again, I would recommend Mother's Mag & Aluminum Polish for it. I've found it to be more cost effective(maybe 5 bucks for a can) compared to $20+ diamond pastes and sprays.


Komitadjie said:
Personally, I tend toward working edges with my belt, but in that progression I usually end up with a rather high polish. Removing every scratch to perfection usually is not my goal so there will still be the occasional scratch from a coarser grit visible by the time I'm done, but that could be worked out with a bit more time between progressions.

My general progression is to use Norton Blaze belts down to 120, usually JUST the 120 to start the edge, but I have a 50 and an 80 as well, should I need to do major work. After the ceramic 120, I switch to 3M "Trizact" belts, sourced from a fellow named Doug Rising down south. He has them made specifically for him from the 3M material, and they tend to run smoother and truer than the ones you can pick up commercially. I use the A65, A20, A16, A6 and A3 belts (occasionally just the 65, 20 and 6), then follow that up with .5u Chromium Oxide semi-paste from Hand American on a surgi-sharp leather belt. The resulting edge is quite highly polished, and with sufficient work between the grit steps to make sure the ENTIRE scratch pattern from the previous grits was removed (from the whole bevel, not just the edge) then it would make a very appreciable mirror. I'm actually adding a 1u Boron Carbide from the same source to my progression on another leather belt, which should improve the final finish quite a bit by helping erase some of those more persistent scratches and blemishes.
Click to expand...
Isn't 120 a bit too coarse even then? I find my P220 belt on my Worksharp can really eat up an edge, even with a couple of quick strokes, which is mostly why I put that away for reprofiling or for putting the finishing touches on a regrind.
 
Well, I don't ALWAYS start with the 120-grit, of course, but typically it seems that people bring me knives mostly when the edges are beyond just a little touch. A single very light pass with the 120 can very quickly bring up a nice, fine burr to start out a progression, along with rounding the shoulders of the bevel a little, which saves a lot of work with the Trizacts that follow it. Of course, as with any coarser belt, use a LIGHT touch, because as you noticed, even a 220 can really bite fast if you let it sit or take it too slow!

I personally think the normal belt gives you a fair bit more control, and the pressure on the belt is spread out over a much larger area so the amount of material removal is quite a bit easier to control. Also, the Kalamazoo has a much slower belt speed than the WSKS which again allows a fair bit more fine control.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top