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How can I mirror-polish a blade?
- Thread starter Shmackey
- Start date
- Joined
- May 26, 2000
- Messages
- 1,922
Yep, Doable. Dual finishes often look nifty also... say mirrored hollow grind area, and brushed flat areas. Some ideas from an amateur:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The right way is to buy a buffing wheel and some buffing compound for your bench grinder. Knife maker's supply houses are where, among others. Sheffield is one, Koval another. And:
http://www.texasknife.com/store/s-pages/TKS_MainframeStore.htm
Buffers are widely considered the most dangerous piece of equipment in a knifemaker's shop. A high RPM cotton muslin/loose wheel can grab a blade and stick it all the way into your eye socket if you are careless and unlucky. Knives can bounce off the floor, bounce back up and nail you there is so much energy involved. Deep slicing cuts and nerve damage from such accidents are one thing, deep puncture wounds could leave you with a spouting artery, and you may not make it to the hospital. Hold tight, pay close attention, or even use something to hold like visegrips. Wear safety glasses. Seriously.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Suitably cautioned, you may now opt for the sandpaper route and get fairly close to a mirror finish. Buy yourself an assortment of wet-or-dry autobody sandpaper from say Pep Boys or NAPA, etc. Start at 400 grit if you want to see how a "brushed" or "Satin" finish looks (going to a harsher grit can leave some deep scratches that are a pain to get out..320 might be ok, 240 is too rough IMO). Push the paper in very straight lines. Or, if you know you want mirror, go straight to 600 grit. Get the whole blade suitably finished in 600 grit, then move on to 800 or 1000 grit, then 1500 and 2000 should get you close to a mirror finish. Emory paper is probably 2000 grit range, maybe finer. Then you can finish off with Flitz or, what I prefer slightly, Simichrome polish.
Oh, you might want to dull the edge suitably (dirt works quickly, so does sandpaper) or risk a good slice while using sandpaper. Yeah, you can tape the edge, but you'll have to work your way down to that edge eventually with sandpaper.
If you go the sandpaper route, one big caution: get some tongue depressors (medical supply store, yellow pages, non-sterile box is cheap) or some other kind of small flat stick and be careful to stay flat on each flat surface. I haven't found an off-the-shelf sanding block that works for knives yet...they tend to be pretty wide. You could make your own and use spray glue adhesive to attach the paper.
If you don't keep the paper flat as you push, you'll very quickly round off the grind lines....i.e. the transition from the flat to the hollow ground or flat ground portion. And that is the true mark of an amateur, or as they call the home-gun-smiths, Gun Butchers.
Go slow. Plan to spend 2 hours since you haven't done it before. You can't back up if you remove too much metal from a formerly sharp, crisp edge.
Better still, here's an interesting read that covers a bunch of practical angles of knife making, including finishing, from an old pro, Bob Engnath, now deceased:
http://www.engnath.com/BladesNStuff.html
Oh, and whatever you do, especially if you are starting from Black T coated blade, do NOT use a wire wheel attachment for a grinder or Dremel. You'll pit the blade, irretrievably. I bought a knife from one bozo who was obviously unencumbered by thought, who had done this... I got my money back luckily.
[This message has been edited by rdangerer (edited 04-07-2001).]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The right way is to buy a buffing wheel and some buffing compound for your bench grinder. Knife maker's supply houses are where, among others. Sheffield is one, Koval another. And:
http://www.texasknife.com/store/s-pages/TKS_MainframeStore.htm
Buffers are widely considered the most dangerous piece of equipment in a knifemaker's shop. A high RPM cotton muslin/loose wheel can grab a blade and stick it all the way into your eye socket if you are careless and unlucky. Knives can bounce off the floor, bounce back up and nail you there is so much energy involved. Deep slicing cuts and nerve damage from such accidents are one thing, deep puncture wounds could leave you with a spouting artery, and you may not make it to the hospital. Hold tight, pay close attention, or even use something to hold like visegrips. Wear safety glasses. Seriously.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Suitably cautioned, you may now opt for the sandpaper route and get fairly close to a mirror finish. Buy yourself an assortment of wet-or-dry autobody sandpaper from say Pep Boys or NAPA, etc. Start at 400 grit if you want to see how a "brushed" or "Satin" finish looks (going to a harsher grit can leave some deep scratches that are a pain to get out..320 might be ok, 240 is too rough IMO). Push the paper in very straight lines. Or, if you know you want mirror, go straight to 600 grit. Get the whole blade suitably finished in 600 grit, then move on to 800 or 1000 grit, then 1500 and 2000 should get you close to a mirror finish. Emory paper is probably 2000 grit range, maybe finer. Then you can finish off with Flitz or, what I prefer slightly, Simichrome polish.
Oh, you might want to dull the edge suitably (dirt works quickly, so does sandpaper) or risk a good slice while using sandpaper. Yeah, you can tape the edge, but you'll have to work your way down to that edge eventually with sandpaper.
If you go the sandpaper route, one big caution: get some tongue depressors (medical supply store, yellow pages, non-sterile box is cheap) or some other kind of small flat stick and be careful to stay flat on each flat surface. I haven't found an off-the-shelf sanding block that works for knives yet...they tend to be pretty wide. You could make your own and use spray glue adhesive to attach the paper.
If you don't keep the paper flat as you push, you'll very quickly round off the grind lines....i.e. the transition from the flat to the hollow ground or flat ground portion. And that is the true mark of an amateur, or as they call the home-gun-smiths, Gun Butchers.
Go slow. Plan to spend 2 hours since you haven't done it before. You can't back up if you remove too much metal from a formerly sharp, crisp edge.
Better still, here's an interesting read that covers a bunch of practical angles of knife making, including finishing, from an old pro, Bob Engnath, now deceased:
http://www.engnath.com/BladesNStuff.html
Oh, and whatever you do, especially if you are starting from Black T coated blade, do NOT use a wire wheel attachment for a grinder or Dremel. You'll pit the blade, irretrievably. I bought a knife from one bozo who was obviously unencumbered by thought, who had done this... I got my money back luckily.
[This message has been edited by rdangerer (edited 04-07-2001).]
Cobalt
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 1998
- Messages
- 17,804
Speaking of dumb things to do. I once watched someone try to remove black-ti and polish a blade with a grinding wheel and different attachments. When I got there he was almost done. The blade had started out at about 5/32 inch and ended up at less than 1/8 inch thick. Not only that but he was using long pliers because the blade had gotten RED HOT during the process. I told him that the knife was pretty much ruined, and he told me I was full of it. He also worked at a knife shop and used that grinder to sharpen customers good knives.
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2001
- Messages
- 107
Good advice! Just wanted to add that many buffing compounds should not be used with a grinder that runs at 3000+ rpm. I use only 1725 rpm motors for the reasons listed. That and a piercing between my big toe and second toe on my left foot from a buffer propelled blade!!
Remember the bigger the buffing wheel the faster the surface speed. A 10" wheel on a 3000 rpm motor will put some hurt on you!
------------------
Mondt Custom Knives
For the Word of God is...sharper than any two edged sword.
Remember the bigger the buffing wheel the faster the surface speed. A 10" wheel on a 3000 rpm motor will put some hurt on you!
------------------
Mondt Custom Knives
For the Word of God is...sharper than any two edged sword.
- Joined
- Nov 3, 1999
- Messages
- 1,692
Here's another thought for ya, fellas. Instead of using a typical bench buffer, try clamping the knife to a padded work surface, blade open, and use a dremel tool with a buffing wheel with simichrome. I have several clamps that I have modified the jaws of clamps with thin pads of hard maple and carpet tape. The likely hood of kick-back is minimal. Just make sure that the rotation of the dremel runs in line with blade edge. In other words, if the edge of the blade is facing left, make sure the dremel is oriented so that the buffing wheel is moving to the left. Work the surface from the spine to the edge.
Good luck!
Barry H
Good luck!
Barry H
Check out this thread for some more info and a pic.
http://128.242.228.6/cgi-bin/microholics/topic.cgi?forum=5&topic=62
happy polishing!
http://128.242.228.6/cgi-bin/microholics/topic.cgi?forum=5&topic=62
happy polishing!
I am in the process of making my first blade. The blade has been shaped and I'm just playing around with the handles. I have been giving some thought to a mirror polish and saw this post. My thought was to use a right angle die grinder. The Dremel tool would work but with the right angle grinder you would be working down on the blade. Of course a compressor is necessary. I have used this method to polish street rod parts. There are sanding discs that are available.When they are used up, I just cut some circles from the grit sandpaper that I need and use contact cement to stick them on the original disc. I will keep several on hand ready for use. I have never completely polished a blade and I would be concerned with the heat build up. But this is a fast way to polish parts. I tried this on my current project just to see if it would work and the grinding marks disappeared very quickly.