Easiest way to achieve a mirror finish?

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Hammer2124

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Sep 29, 2016
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G'day everyone, I have some scratches and polishing inconsistencies on my custom fallkniven A1 and I'm thinking a mirror finish would look good, whats the best/easiest way to get a mirror finish? (preferably without any expensive tools, though I do have a dremel).
 
Hi,

The dremel will not work!
The best way are flat stones, very fine grit wet/dry paper and chromepolish on a leatherhone.

I use the DC + CC stones from Fällkniven.
The diamond side is for flattening out all the micro hollows and bumps from the factory beltsanders.
The ceramic sides are to remove the coarser grit marks from the diamond.

I have also the brown ceramic from the discontinued DC stones, wich is finer than the white CC stone.
At this stage the mirror starts to show and it's time for the wet/dry paper.
I use up to 1200P European gritsize, before the honing with chromepolish.

attachment.php


I repeat the procedure until the surface suddenly turns glossy and there it is, the mirror polish!
Once the mirror is established, maintenace and sharpening gets a lot easier and it's a quick job to restore the mirrorfinish.


Regards
Mikael
 

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the theory is to progress through the grits but don't move on until you completely remove the prior grits scratch pattern
 
Stay away from a Dremmel.

Go to a car parts store and get a pack of wet dry sand paper that runs up from 400 grit to 2000 grit. Most common is the 3M paper.

Cut the paper into smaller bits you can fold and hold easily.

Get a bottle of 3-in-1 oil.

The goal is to remove old scratches while not leaving behind new ones.

The basic trick is to work in perpendicular directions as you move up through the grits. Work the blade spine to edge on one pass. Then work the blade tang to tip on the next. This makes it super easy to see when you've entirely removed the new scratches from the previous, courser grit. You need to stay with a grit long enough that the only visible marks are in the direction you are currently working. That is, if you are working tang to tip, you should continue in that direction until you can no longer see any spine to edge marks.

I generally work the 2000 grit in both directions. I then use rubbing compound in both directions and then jewelers paste in both directions (by hand, no machines).

Dremmels have too small of a foot print and will cause wavy, uneven results. If you want to use a machine, you need bigger equipment.

The by hand approach is a labor of love, takes copious elbow grease and is easier with a nice pint, good music and nobody hassling you to get something else done for them.

This approach also provides numerous opportunities to cut yourself. You might want to purposely dull your blade before doing it.
 
And always use a sanding block. Don't ever just hold the sandpaper in your fingers. You won't be able to score the surface well and the few scratches you do make will be all wobbly and look like crap

Edit: the logic here being that one may be inclined to use their fingers for hollow grinds as they will conform nicely to the curve, but it's just a mirage... don't chase it for 30 hours like I did lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Hammer2124 said:
..., whats the best/easiest way to get a mirror finish?
Click to expand...

Buy a knife that has one.

Otherwise expect to spend a long time rubbing with a series of abrasive grits (I like wet/dry sandpaper), followed by metal polish like Flitz.
 
1.5hp buffer
 
If ya use your knife and it sounds like you do because its scratched up, a mirror finish is probably the worst thing you can do. Lots of time hand sanding etc to get that finish and then it will be very susceptible to further scratching. Unless ya just want to do it because.
 
Horsewright said:
If ya use your knife and it sounds like you do because its scratched up, a mirror finish is probably the worst thing you can do. Lots of time hand sanding etc to get that finish and then it will be very susceptible to further scratching. Unless ya just want to do it because.
Click to expand...

+1 to this. If it's for a knife you're going to just display, a mirror finish is really pretty so go for it. If you put a lot of effort into putting a mirror finish on a blade you're going to use and then you get a nasty scratch one day the scratch may drive you into madness (or at least hours of repolishing).
 
I disagree on mirror finishes being bad for a user-knife. If you're a person who doesn't mind scratches, the polished bevel will make cutting some materials slightly better due to having a smoother surface. Sure, it will scratch, but I prefer the performance over rougher finished bevels.

This blade glides through cardboard and other stuff, and besides, the scratches are really hard to show in pictures anyways:)

C8F76D39-7AC8-4055-9E62-7B5EBC614D93_zpsqyqdxedc.jpg
 
Mikael W said:
Yes, I quit using a buffer after an incident.
There's still a chunk missing in the wall at the impact.


Regards
Mikael
Click to expand...
Didnt a well known knifemaker lose his life because the buffer spun his work around and hit him straight in the chest? For me the only way to do a mirror finish is time and elbow grease.
 
PURPLEDC said:
Didnt a well known knifemaker lose his life because the buffer spun his work around and hit him straight in the chest? For me the only way to do a mirror finish is time and elbow grease.
Click to expand...

Yes, not that long ago either.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...c-loss-Gordon-Dempsey-killed-in-shop-accident

It's a freak accident though. No reason to avoid the buffer, just reason to be careful. Could just as easily have happened due to a stumble while carrying it across the shop.
 
Blues Bender said:
I disagree on mirror finishes being bad for a user-knife. If you're a person who doesn't mind scratches, the polished bevel will make cutting some materials slightly better due to having a smoother surface. Sure, it will scratch, but I prefer the performance over rougher finished bevels.

This blade glides through cardboard and other stuff, and besides, the scratches are really hard to show in pictures anyways:)

C8F76D39-7AC8-4055-9E62-7B5EBC614D93_zpsqyqdxedc.jpg
Click to expand...

I agree, the increased performance is really worth the effort.
I use my knife daily and it get scratched, but it's easy to refinish.
I tolerate some scratches from use, as it adds character to the knife.

A customer thought my Idun was new and little used, but it's a seven year old workhorse.


Regards
Mikael
 
Ok, by the sounds of it I'm going to stay away from a 1.5hp buffer for now, seeing as though I don't have any experience with them. My bark river block strop/hone kit comes with 400, 600, and 1000 grit sandpaper that can be affixed to the 4th flat side of the block, and then I have 3000 grit, 6000 grit, and 12000 grit compounds for the leather sides. Finish it off with some flitz metal polish? This sounds like my plan so far.
 
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