Buffing compound vs. micarta/g10

D

Dave Hub

Joined
Dec 10, 2014
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57
After hand sanding to 800 grit, I tried buffing some black micarta with orange g10 accents with green compound. Now the handles have a greenish tint. The g10 also looks dirty. How can I fix this and how can it be prevented?

I have only made 8 knives so far, so I am still learning. This was the first time I have tried buffing micarta. I buffed some kirinite, and it came out fine. There was some dark residue, but it cleaned up fine.

Thanks in advance!
 
I've never actually ran into that issue, and I only go up to about 600 on micarta. A rough surface will definitely stain though. I always go up to 400 grit on the grinder before hand sanding micarta.
Color might have an impact though. I normally use either black or tan, I can see white being a lot worse
 
if it looks rough, and some spots are not as shiny as others, and there is enough texture to hold the compound you probably have some scratches from lower grits in there. its important once you get to 400 grit, that the color of the micarta is consistent. if any spots look chalky or lighter in color that means there is still 220 scratches there. same thing once you finish with the 400, and all the grits above. the color must be the same on the whole handle or you wont get a consistent finish.
 
I haven't used much micarta, but my g10 liners don't buff properly unless I take it to at least 1200. Then cleaning with wd40 as stated to remove excess compound.
 
I think John April is right. If the micarta is like you describe it's very likely you did not get all the 220 grit scratches out. I just go to 400 grit and then buff with a white compound, but all the courser scratches must be removed.
 
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