Best method to get a mirror finsh hand rub or buff

Nathan House

Nathan House

Joined
Feb 14, 2000
Messages
1,204
I am confused at the method of bringing up to a mirror finsh,
Hand rubbing finish just seems like there is a better method then all the time and blistered finger useing the hand rubbing method
I would be greatful for any body method to
get a mirror finsh with belts and buffs I know there has to be a easier way than by hand
thanks Nathan
 
You will need to grind down to 600 or900 grit min.Carefully grind all scratches out from previous grits.Scratch removal is a must.Then you buff with brown,blending,white,green,and jewelers rough compounds.Jantz has a kit of buffing wheels and compounds to do this.Then Buff the piss out of the blade,As I was told once when you think you are done go back and buff for another hour min.Or you could just hand rub to 1500 grit and leave this finish or if you want a scratchless mirror after this 1500 hand rub go to the buffer and buff out all the scratches.....Hope this helps,Bruce

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Bruce Evans Handcrafted Knives
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The soul of the Knife begins in the Fire!!!!!
Member of,AKTI#A000223 and The American Bladesmith Society
 
This is how I do it....not much different from Bruce's, I just have to buff for 10 minutes max, and my grind lines stay pretty clean. This is for a flat grind blade. For hollow grind, I finish up with A6 Trizact belts and then buff. Very little hand work on a hollow grind. Bear in mind that I have variable speed and a fairly soft contact wheel, 60 Duro.

To do a mirror finish grind on your belt to about 400 or 600 grit. Go back over with 220 grit and hand finish to get ALL the grind lines out. Progress to 320, 400, 600, 1000 then maybe even 1500 and 2000 grit if you feel industrious. Ensure that each grit after removes ALL the scratches left from the previous grit. Sand one way then with the next grit sand at a 90 degree angle until all lines are gone from the previous grit. Buff with green chrome rouge. I use a 10 inch wheel for the green chrome with a 3450 rpm motor. Very fast. EXTREME care must be taken. I then finish with scratchless pink on a smaller wheel.

I use a wooden flat "stick" about 3/4 inch wide with leather glued to it as a "sanding pad" to back the sandpaper. It doesn't take as long as you think. Just sand evenly across the entire surface. If done properly, this is a presentation grade mirror finish.

I place one of those "chingone" magnets face up in my vise to hold the blade while doing this. Those grinding magnets have more use than WD40!

Remember that on a mirror finish, wiping the blade on your pants will scratch it. For a using knife, I just finish in one direction (lengthwise)with 600 or 1000 grit at the most. I have found 440C to be very agreeable to a mirror finish.



[This message has been edited by C L Wilkins (edited 08-19-2000).]
 
Howdy There.......!
I truly undestand your frustrations about the mirro finish. I use 440C, as stated before accepts a mirro finish very well. But as before the whole process starts in the begining of the intsial grind. You most keep them smooth and even, usaully go up to 220 before heat treating. Start back after heat treating 180,220,320,400 & 600 to finish my secondry grind ,if need use trizacs for final. Then go to the buffer, green on a ten inch wheel and complete the process with white on a lose wheel. It really doesn't take as long as you may think with the buffing part if you had done the grinding section correctly. As the "Ole Saying Goes Turn Them Big Scracthes Into Little Ones". Good luck and be careful at the buffer, they can "bite" sometimes.
Good Luck "Possum"

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Thomas Clegg
 
As you can see, everybody basically does it the same way with very few variations.

One thing that I didn't mention in my post. There is not much sense to do much past, say 220 or 400 prior to heat treat. Sometimes I will go to 600 or 1000 prior to heat treat but actually there isn't much use I have found.

One other thing, D2 will have an orange peel effect and in my opinion, it is best left handrubbed.

[This message has been edited by C L Wilkins (edited 08-20-2000).]
 
I can see there is a couple ways to get
to a finished state,everybody has there way
I guess I will take some from all of them
and work out a system that I feel works
for me.
thanks for the input everyone
Nathan
 
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