Flitz and other polishing pastes

aznpos531

aznpos531

I like sharp and pointy things...
Joined
Dec 12, 2010
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I know Flitz is used pretty commonly by the knife and gun community. I know some people even use it as a stropping compound. I'm curious to know if Flitz will leave a mirror polished look or more of a brushed/satin finish.
The reason I ask is I have some knives with some unsightly scratches and scuffs and I'm hoping to buff out some of them. I would prefer a brushed chrome/satin look rather than a mirror polish. If Flitz leaves a mirrored polish, can someone suggest something that will give a brushed/satin finish?

Thanks in advance! :)
 
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Most polishing compound will give you a mirror surface. The only thing I used that worked in repairing brushed surface is scotch pads. Try it on a user first.
 
Most/all polishing pastes will put a mirror finish on, IF the surface is sufficiently prepared for it. A satin finish, on a blade or other object, will still look like a satin finish after the paste, although a bit more 'shiny'. If, on the other hand, a surface has already (originally) been sanded/finished to a higher grit, enabling a mirror finish, then the polishing paste will really make it 'pop'.

The abrasive grit available in any polishing paste is relatively small, compared to a grit which might leave a satin finish (with wet/dry sandpaper, that's around 400 - 800 grit). If the finish is prepared up to or beyond about 2000 grit, then the paste will really make it shine.
 
aznpos531 said:
I know Flitz is used pretty commonly by the knife and gun community. I know some people even use it as a stropping compound. I'm curious to know if Flitz will leave a mirror polished look or more of a brushed/satin finish.
The reason I ask is I have some knives with some unsightly scratches and scuffs and I'm hoping to buff out some of them. I would prefer a brushed chrome/satin look rather than a mirror polish. If Flitz leaves a mirrored polish, can someone suggest something that will give a brushed/satin finish?
Thanks in advance! :)
Click to expand...

For those 'unsightly' scratches and scuffs, you might first hit it with something like 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper, or scotch-brite pad, as already suggested. Then, when the deep scratches are smoothed out, finish up through the grit chain (600 thru 1000/2000 or so) with wet/dry, then polish with the paste. See the link below (from this thread), it illustrates what I'm talking about:

Here's an example
 
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Flitz is more of a chemical than abrasive polish.It would take many applications of Flitz alone to change say a satin to a mirror finish.
 
Just remember you have to sand the whole knife down past the scratch. If you just buff them out the knife will have a wavey surface.

Good luck!
 
Thanks for all the advice and suggestions! I'll give the sandpaper/scotch-bright pads a try and see how it works out.
 
rycen said:
Flitz is more of a chemical than abrasive polish.It would take many applications of Flitz alone to change say a satin to a mirror finish.
Click to expand...

The active polishing ingredient is very fine alumina abrasive. It's MSDS is here. The ammonia might help dissolve rust and the naptha will definitely dissolve other goodies (maybe rust, too - I only use it to remove glue), but the bulk of the polishing seems to be from aluminum oxide goodness.
 
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