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Factory polished blades always more smudge resistant than mine. Why is that?

MTHall720

MTHall720

Joined
Sep 21, 2010
Messages
2,957
I have always loved shiny objects. When I get a knife with a non reflective blade I like to make it shine. Usually a combo of ultra fine grit paper, dremel polishing, and hand applied polish paste and wax. NO matter WHAT I do though, the blade ends up showing every smudge like mad. Obviously there is something I am doing wrong, but no clue at all. I may be a little anal about it but I wish I could get my polished blades to be as smudge resistant as the factory one.

Example: I got a Cold Steel TiLite with a factory reflective shine which doesn't show smudges much, yet when I got my Spartan, and made it "shine" it shows every single smudge no matter what I do.

Any ideas?

Here is a pic of the Spartan (not perfect but I like it)
spartan1.jpg


Spartan2.jpg
 
I was looking at this thread, and thinking there really is a fine art to so-called 'mirror' finishing. Real subtle differences in grind patterns (direction, depth and width of microscopic scratches), especially at the finer grits, seem to make a huge difference in what the 'mirror' looks like, especially under varying light conditions. Grind lines all running in one uniform direction can hide imperfections when viewed at one angle, but then really make scratches and smudges stand out when viewed at another angle to the light. I notice this a lot, when attempting to polish the blades or bolsters on my knives. When held one way, it looks great. But if the knife is turned 90 degrees, for example, all of a sudden, the flaws are impossible to hide. More so, under very bright light, like sunlight especially.

I think manufacturers make expert use of the subtle differences in finish grits, and utilize very specific sequences of grits, in order to hide smudges while still making the metal shine. I seem to recall seeing a reference recently, to established industrial specs or standards related to controlling width/depth of abrasive grind patterns, in order to produce a consistent and predictable level of 'shine' on metals. I'm trying to track that down again now; I'll link it if I can find it again.
 
Thanks very much for the input. If you find the link I will look forward to reading it.
 
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