Buffing wheel?

T

THG

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May 18, 2008
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Does anyone here use a buffing wheel to remove scratches from or to polish up blades? If so, what's the best process for doing this?
 
I use them myself on a few of my knives, but the process itself is very difficult with the newer wear resistant super steels. Even with S30V it's very difficult to buff it with typical buffing compounds. I find that only compounds with almost pure Aluminum Oxide, Chromium Oxide, or Silicon Carbide can scratch the steel on any level.

For buffing scratches out, I find that aluminum oxide powder works the best up to 600 grit. The problem starts when moving from that point on. The 600 grit will leave an orange peel texture on the blade, which is very difficult to get rid of. Black Emery typically won't do a thing to the steel, and even an extra fast cutting grade compound for stainless steel(said to be 800 grit) takes forever and only seems to raise a shine without getting rid of the orange peel.

I'll try again with the Black Emery + Sisal Wheel and set aside an hour for the task, but I'm not expecting any miracles. I think the trick is to find something around 800 grit and 1200 grit before moving to the stainless cutting grade compound. Sadly, manual sandpaper seems to be the only available option at the moment, though I'm still searching for the proper grit aluminum oxide powder.
 
Hmm... The reason I was asking is because I was using Black Emery, and it seems to have only barely put a hint of a shine on my blades. It definitely hasn't gotten rid of any scratches.

So if Black Emery can barely touch hardened steel, how is it that something even finer like Green Rogue is used to mirror-polish bevels and edges?
 
I believe someone noted that the finish of black emery is about 600 grit, which can break down into a finer grit. The key issue is that the abrasive in black emery is softer than the finer chromium oxide, which ironically makes the green compound faster in terms of putting a shine on the blade. There might be a "trick" to it where you only buff for about 3-5 seconds, then reapply a small amount of compound. I've heard that "little and often" is the trick, and also that stainless loves to be mashed hard against the wheel(which requires a great deal of care with a sharp blade).

Anyway, for scratches I find that you need at least 320 grit to buff them out. As for getting rid of the resulting orange peel(if you use 320-600 grit abrasive on a wheel), the sisal wheel with black emery sounds like the only viable option.
 
Polishing is a science. Scratches are best sanded or stoned out, to at least 1000 grit. Buffing is to give a high sheen.You can't effectively buff out "orange peel" either.
Sand, then polish with chromium oxide. Using WD 40 on your blade while polishing will allow the compound to cut smoother, but it's messy.
 
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