First polishing job

R

Ryan J

Joined
Jul 14, 2014
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233
This is my Cold Steel Recon 1. I know it's not as fancy as some of the high end stuff I've seen in here but it was a gift and I love this knife. I've learned a lot about knives from this knife. Once I ruined the bevel trying to reprofile it on a belt sander and thought it was a goner. Brought it back from the dead though. And before my love of knives became a passion I tried to remove the black coating with a dremel sanding wheel. Live and learn. The wheel wasn't round and put a bunch of pitting in the blade. That was a few years ago. Decided to fix it yesterday. The process was fairly involved because of the pitting. Disc sanding wheel on Dremel, two grades of wire wheel after that, hand sand with 150, 220, 400, 600, 2000, buff with green compound, buff with mothers, hand polish with mothers. Took about 5 hours. Could of saved time by not jumping straight to 2000 but the auto parts store was closed. And the mothers was mag and aluminum but it worked okay. Anyway, I love this knife more now then I ever have. If anyone would like to share their polishing process or maybe give tips I would appreciate it. I love learning all I can about knives. Thanks guys.
 
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Thanks. Nothing fancy. Used the green compound that came with the dremel kit. Then the small felt wheel with mothers mag and aluminum polish. I found it worked better to use the end of the felt as apposed to the side. More like an orbital buffer that way. After that there were very small scratches but I hand buffed it with mothers and they were gone fairly quickly. 2000 is the finest grit I had availabe. The process would of worked better if I'd used finer paper before buffing. Next time I'll try to end at 4k at least. Buffing would be quicker. Buffing removed all but deepest 2k scratches but there are a few left that are barely visible. No one notices, but it bugs me. Bit of a perfectionist. Only problem is now I don't even want a finger print on it and that makes it hard to carry lol. If I do I carry something else to actually use. Yep, I unintentionally made it a trailer queen. But I love it because it's beautiful even if it's effectively jewelry now. Just took to much time to make it that purdy
 
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Just read your post on the other thread and wanted to add next time I'll start with a more aggressive compound then green as well. Green was all I had available when I did this
 
Nice. That is a labor of love for sure.

Just wondering how you feel after all that work - would you do it again?

(I ask because I am considering polishing my first blade as well - and thanks or all the info you provided!)

Eric
 
Nice job there, but if you hold it up to light at a certain angle do you see streak marks? I found those hard as hell to get rid of
 
snippy said:
Nice. That is a labor of love for sure.

Just wondering how you feel after all that work - would you do it again?

(I ask because I am considering polishing my first blade as well - and thanks or all the info you provided!)

Eric
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Yeah I'd do it. I learned enough when I did this knife that the process would be considerably shorter should I do it again. Not to mention it wouldn't be as far gone to begin with as mine was due to the pitting. I've considered maybe stopping at 2k for a satin finish as it wouldn't be as hard to keep clean. One fingerprint and my beautiful work is marred lol. Not something I am concerned about with my other knifes. Haven't carried that one since but once it gets a scratch I won't have to worry about it or feel like babying it anymore. I'll tell you one thing, I bet it increased the cutting ability immensely. It's so slick I could hardly get it clamped in my lansky. Slides right out.
 
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Kershaws said:
Nice job there, but if you hold it up to light at a certain angle do you see streak marks? I found those hard as hell to get rid of
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Yeah. Only under light at the right angle like you said. Used glass cleaner for the pics and that worked pretty good.
 
IMG_20140724_205355.jpg
[/url][/IMG] this is after I received some various buffing compounds from a jeweler who is a family member and did a little more work. Couldn't find any info on them at all so I just started from 2k with each to try them out. There was a very aggressive white that took out the 2k scratches then I used green, a yellow that she sent, and finally a little hand rubbing with mother's.
 
That's awesome. I'm debating if I should polish this custom knife I got from a friend. He forged it, he made it, so I don't know why the color of the blade is like this but I'm wondering if it would look cool like yours if I polish it out. No idea what kind of steel it is. I just like the design.




So essentially what do I need to buy when I go to hardware store like Ace's hardware?
150, 220, 400, 600, 2000 grit sandpaper, mother's buffing compound and green compound(?) is that the same compound used when you strop?
Let me know.
Here are some old cheap knife I found that has close to mirror polish. I'm going to practice on this one first.
 
kms7852 said:
That's awesome. I'm debating if I should polish this custom knife I got from a friend. He forged it, he made it, so I don't know why the color of the blade is like this but I'm wondering if it would look cool like yours if I polish it out. No idea what kind of steel it is. I just like the design.




So essentially what do I need to buy when I go to hardware store like Ace's hardware?
150, 220, 400, 600, 2000 grit sandpaper, mother's buffing compound and green compound(?) is that the same compound used when you strop?
Let me know.
Here are some old cheap knife I found that has close to mirror polish. I'm going to practice on this one first.
Click to expand...

It really depends on what finish you want in the end and starting condition of the knife. . I started in low grit to remove some deep scratches. If it had been smooth already like u our practice knife buffing alone would do it. I noticed on the one you want to polish there are some deeper scratches. Keep in mind you will have to thin the blade to the depth of the deepest scratch. If smooth like glass is what you want then yeah 150 to start or maybe lower. Then the same sequence of grits. Add 1200 in as well though to save some time. Then if you have a home Depot I'd recommend the ryobi metal polishing kit for steel. It has all the compounds you need. Mother's at the end by hand is what really sets it off. Yes these are the same compounds I use to strop. After all, polishing the blade is the same process as polishing a bevel just on more metal. Or as another option you could buff alone without removing the scratches. Anyway I hope this makes sense. The sun fried me at work today. If something was unclear let me know
 
Okay I'm planning to buy this 3M assorted Sandpaper starting 220 400 800 and 1000. I found Bar Keepers Friend in my house... I used that to polish most of my stainless stuff.
I've put some on my strop and stropped it and it seems it works. I just want to make this knife mirror polished...and razor sharp. I know this will be hard but I have tight budget and I'm trying to get all the stuff I need with less money. So what else do you think I need other than that sand paper, bar keepers friend polishing powder and wax ? I got turtle wax but I think knife is too small to do any waxing with huge spinning wheels haha. Thanks for help !
 
You will probably need 2k wet dry as well. 1k is probably too rough to start polishing on. The turtle wax won't do anything. Anything designed for paint won't be abrasive enough for metal and most of it won't be abrasive at all. The sanding will be just like polishing a bevel. Make sure to fully remove the scratch pattern form the previous grit and before switching grits rinse and dry the blade to avoid cross contamination. It may take a little longer rubbing by hand instead of a dremel but it will still get there. Also I did all the sanding wet. Just like sharpening the water keeps the paper from getting clogged.
 
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Ryan J said:
It really depends on what finish you want in the end and starting condition of the knife. . I started in low grit to remove some deep scratches. If it had been smooth already like u our practice knife buffing alone would do it. I noticed on the one you want to polish there are some deeper scratches. Keep in mind you will have to thin the blade to the depth of the deepest scratch. If smooth like glass is what you want then yeah 150 to start or maybe lower. Then the same sequence of grits. Add 1200 in as well though to save some time. Then if you have a home Depot I'd recommend the ryobi metal polishing kit for steel. It has all the compounds you need. Mother's at the end by hand is what really sets it off. Yes these are the same compounds I use to strop. After all, polishing the blade is the same process as polishing a bevel just on more metal. Or as another option you could buff alone without removing the scratches. Anyway I hope this makes sense. The sun fried me at work today. If something was unclear let me know
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I'm thinking of polishing a few blades. This post and your others were very helpful.
 
Thanks your post has been super helpful!
I'll use your tips to polish my blade!
Thank you again!

Ryan J said:
You will probably need 2k wet dry as well. 1k is probably too rough to start polishing on. The turtle wax won't do anything. Anything designed for paint won't be abrasive enough for metal and most of it won't be abrasive at all. The sanding will be just like polishing a bevel. Make sure to fully remove the scratch pattern form the previous grit and before switching grits rinse and dry the blade to avoid cross contamination. It may take a little longer rubbing by hand instead of a dremel but it will still get there. Also I did all the sanding wet. Just like sharpening the water keeps the paper from getting clogged.
Click to expand...
 
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