Busse mirror polish

B

Busse

Joined
Jun 18, 2016
Messages
39
Hi

I have a few Busse. I am really keen to get them to mirror polish finish. Purely for aesthetics, nothing else. They're not going to be used anyway.

I don't have the heavy machinery or tools to do this myself.

Does anyone recommend how I should move forward? Should I contact Busse directly or a craftsman who would do the work?

Many thanks
J
 
Wet/dry sandpaper of progressively higher numbers grit. I'd probably start no lower grit than 400. Then proceed to polishing media on leather.
There may be better/more detailed directions available from other members. But this has worked on at least one 1095 blade that I have.
 
Thank you so much for this dogboye! Very much appreciate it. I'll give it a go. J


dogboye said:
Wet/dry sandpaper of progressively higher numbers grit. I'd probably start no lower grit than 400. Then proceed to polishing media on leather.
There may be better/more detailed directions available from other members. But this has worked on at least one 1095 blade that I have.[/Q
Click to expand...
 
To be clear, I would start with at least 400, but maybe 600. Depends on where the finish is at to start with. But then go higher than 400. 600, 800, etc. Eventually you end up where you are using things like jewelers rouge and/or leather strop media to do the final polishing.

Most important thing is to start out slow with whatever level you start with, so you don't go backward.
 
A few tips if you’re gonna try this:

~Watch a YouTube or two
~Try it first on a small piece of steel that ISN’T worth $500.00
~Make yourself a small wooden sanding block. If you just use your fingers you’ll blur all the grind lines.
~Each time you move up a grit, change the direction of sanding. E.g.: Use 400 grit “horizontally” from guard to tip, then with 600 sand from spine to edge, then back to horizontal with 800 grit and so on. This will allow you to see scratches from lower grits that you missed and have to keep sanding.
~It’s probably possible to get a good mirror finish by hand, but a buffing wheel with some compound used very lightly and carefully as the last step will probably get you the best results...
 
dogboye said:
To be clear, I would start with at least 400, but maybe 600. Depends on where the finish is at to start with. But then go higher than 400. 600, 800, etc. Eventually you end up where you are using things like jewelers rouge and/or leather strop media to do the final polishing.

Most important thing is to start out slow with whatever level you start with, so you don't go backward.
Click to expand...
 
This is incredibly useful!! I just hope I don't ruin the blade. But I will definitely try this. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain. J

QUOTE="scdub, post: 20000816, member: 133109"]A few tips if you’re gonna try this:

~Watch a YouTube or two
~Try it first on a small piece of steel that ISN’T worth $500.00
~Make yourself a small wooden sanding block. If you just use your fingers you’ll blur all the grind lines.
~Each time you move up a grit, change the direction of sanding. E.g.: Use 400 grit “horizontally” from guard to tip, then with 600 sand from spine to edge, then back to horizontal with 800 grit and so on. This will allow you to see scratches from lower grits that you missed and have to keep sanding.
~It’s probably possible to get a good mirror finish by hand, but a buffing wheel with some compound used very lightly and carefully as the last step will probably get you the best results...[/QUOTE]
 
Busse said:
This is incredibly useful!! I just hope I don't ruin the blade. But I will definitely try this. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain. J

QUOTE="scdub, post: 20000816, member: 133109"]A few tips if you’re gonna try this:


~Watch a YouTube or two
~Try it first on a small piece of steel that ISN’T worth $500.00
~Make yourself a small wooden sanding block. If you just use your fingers you’ll blur all the grind lines.
~Each time you move up a grit, change the direction of sanding. E.g.: Use 400 grit “horizontally” from guard to tip, then with 600 sand from spine to edge, then back to horizontal with 800 grit and so on. This will allow you to see scratches from lower grits that you missed and have to keep sanding.
~It’s probably possible to get a good mirror finish by hand, but a buffing wheel with some compound used very lightly and carefully as the last step will probably get you the best results...
Click to expand...
[/QUOTE]
Be careful not to heat the metal Too much and mess up the heat treat. It should also be mentioned that doing a ghetto satin job voids the Lifetime warranty. I’m stripping a busse right now and hand sanding it to get rid of the infi dimples. The model I’m sanding couldn’t be replaced under warranty anyways because busse doesn’t have any Skelton key blanks anymore
 
Thank you for the tips Chevelleface! I'm probably OK with losing the warranty. I'm focusing and prioritising a mirror finish. Thanks!!
 
Chevelleface said:
Be careful not to heat the metal Too much and mess up the heat treat.
Click to expand...
Yes - I should have mentioned - I would avoid or barely touch the actual tip or the actual edge with the buffing wheel, and keep the wheel moving. Even a split second of high speed on thin steel can have a negative effect.
 
2051BCC4-5B4F-4971-8C78-127070C7C5DA.jpeg Do yourself a favour and get a cheap rotary car buffer and some stick on sanding discs from 100 grit up to 2500. I can pretty much mirror polish any blade in under an hour using this method, just be very careful not to over heat the steel and keep some water on hand to keep it cool. Finish of with some good metal polish like Flitz. This is my modified BB13 and also one of my custom blades 87885835-BC88-4AD2-B2C0-2A3FC47D1C27.jpeg
 
Chevelleface said:
Be careful not to heat the metal Too much and mess up the heat treat. It should also be mentioned that doing a ghetto satin job voids the Lifetime warranty. I’m stripping a busse right now and hand sanding it to get rid of the infi dimples. The model I’m sanding couldn’t be replaced under warranty anyways because busse doesn’t have any Skelton key blanks anymore
Click to expand...
Just curious, on you saying sanding the blade voids the warranty. I have never heard this. Did you get this info from the shop?
 
Crosier said:
Just curious, on you saying sanding the blade voids the warranty. I have never heard this. Did you get this info from the shop?
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There are quite a few threads on this. You can do an advanced search. I believe it was Garth that said in the most recent thread Stripping is ok. But regrinds and ghetto satin voids warranty.
 
I remember that BB13!
There's a youtuber Slavik Tely, who puts amazing finishes on his builds. I don't know what kind of hours he has wrapped up in them but it's a lot. He works progressive grits and uses windex to keep cleaning them off, or maybe just water in a windex bottle? not sure. I have found you can ask him questions and he will reply, he's a super cool guy. Wet sanding with a perfectly flat backer and full length strokes to keep it all flat. I've found Infi is not hard to shine up.
 
Chevelleface said:
... I believe it was Garth that said in the most recent thread Stripping is ok. But regrinds and ghetto satin voids warranty.
Click to expand...

From the Busse website:
"Please note that aftermarket modifications done to your knife outside of our shop that cause your knife to fail may void your warranty."

So yes, Busse has the option to deny a warranty claim on a knife that has failed because of a modification done outside the shop, including over-heating the blade. But the fact that a Busse has been reground or has had a satin finish applied does not, of itself, void the warranty. Just take care not to overheat the blade, especially the edge, while buffing/sanding. There can be hundreds of degrees difference between the spine and edge of a knife while buffing/sanding/grinding because the edge (and point) are so much thinner, so you may not be able to feel enough heat where you're holding the blade to realize damage is occurring.

That said, Busse has never denied a warranty claim, even though claims have been submitted because of edge damage due to over-thinning and/or overheating, probably while buffing.

See the following thread, esp. posts 103 & 106 by Jerry:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/frozen-wood-vs-sarsquatch-the-wood-won-by-a-lot.713599/

and this, esp. Jerry's post #123 and Garth's post #135:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/natural-outlaw-died-i-shocked.968482/

and this, concerning stability of the Busse heat treat to very high temperatures. See Jerry's Post #2:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/care-and-feeding-of-my-mistress.135306/
 
I'm just going to add this here.... it would seem if ANYTHING was going to void the warranty on a knife, running over it with a running John Deere lawn mower would. Not saying you should not heed the warnings above, and Busse does have the right to deny a warranty claim. But they have the best warranty in the business, bar none. So, don't be stupid and expect the warranty to cover it. You MAY get lucky and Busse MAY cover it in spite of your stupidity (see me as exhibit 1), but they may not.
 
I would suggest investing in a belt sander and an assortment of belts.
Buy a cheap Machete and practice, practice, practice before working on a Busse or anything of value.
You will need to remove and reattach/replace the scales to do it properly.
Mirror is just to much for me, satin with a mirrored edge is more my style!
 
Hey Salvo. Amazing piece there . I agree, can't sail on my maiden voyage on a Busse!
 
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