How To UN-POLISH a blade?????

[afishhunter]

"High Polish"/"Mirror Polish" on a stainless steel blade. I hate it! It shows every finger print and smudge.
How can I get a "brushed" or non-polished finish, short of sand blasting or an acid wash? (An acid wash would play heck with the bone scales, among other things.) Wet/Dry sand paper or emery cloth? What grit? Course steel wool?

The knife in question is not a "collector" or expensive, just a Rough Rider Sunfish that is one of my main EDC knives.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Wet/dry sandpaper in any grit from 220-600 will give varying degrees of a 'brushed satin' finish. Use a rubber block or rubber eraser with a piece of the sandpaper wrapped around it to make the scratch pattern more uniform (the rubber more evenly distributes pressure), and sand only in one linear direction at a time, for sanding lines running from spine to edge, or lengthwise from heel to tip, depending on preference. The added advantage of using the rubber eraser is, it'll mold or form itself into the contours of the blade as you work (great with hollow grinds or working in curved portions that'd otherwise be flat-spotted with a hard block, or the uneven depth of scratches resulting from finger pressure alone). IF THE BLADE IS A TRUE FLAT GRIND, laying the sandpaper flat to a hard surface like glass, and moving the blade over it can yield pretty nice results. Downside is, even 'flat grind' knives often have some unevenness or waviness to them, that you won't notice until the sanding pattern becomes more evident. A hard backing under the sandpaper will only work the 'high spots' until enough metal is removed to flatten it all out.

The softish steel used for the Rough Rider knives (akin to something like 440A) will take sanding more easily, and you might start with 400-grit and see how that looks to you. Many factory 'satin' finishes will emulate anything from 220 through 400 or so.


David

 

[tinkerer]

Take a piece of 600 grit sandpaper and wrap it around a piece of metal/wood and form an edge.

Place edge against inner most part of blade and make a single pass towards the tip. Roll sandpaper up 1/8" and resecure.

Move to next surface. Repeat until that side of blade is uniformly satin.

Flip knife over and do again.

The trick is to draw straight back to you each time so scratches are uniform and straight.

Larry
Tinkerer

 

[afishhunter]

Thanks.

 

[ryxlyx]

this is 1000-grit running E/W, for comparison-- 1500 more muted etcetc

 

[afishhunter]

that is about what I'm looking for. Thank you for the picture.