Is mirror polish possible on convex edge?

230grains said:
Absolutely!

Busse killa zilla

zillaground2.jpg


Busse NMFBM

sharp2.jpg


Better mirror picture of the NMFBM.

sharp.jpg


All reprofiled by me and full convex ground.
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That's very nice, but it's far from being a mirror finish. I can still see all the grind marks on it.
 
230grains said:
BTW, knives are maintained on a strop with green compound, followed by pink compound, then bare leather. Can easily get good results with just the green compound however.

I should add however, that using just sand paper (2000 grit is as high as i've seen) will not get a high mirror finish. I power sharpen with belts, then power strop with a leather belt, then I go to hand stropping.
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If you don't mind could you give a run down of the belts/grits you use? Which you use the most? Just bought a sander and some basic belts (100 - 320 grit).
 
gga357 said:
If you don't mind could you give a run down of the belts/grits you use? Which you use the most? Just bought a sander and some basic belts (100 - 320 grit).
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If an edge is damaged, or i'm reprofiling it I start with a 220 or so, maybe lower and work my way through the grits. After an 800 grit belt, I switch to a 15 micron belt which is pretty worn. After that I usually go to the leather belt with some green compound. Lately i've been experimenting with cork belts. I originally bought them for actual blade finishing, but I have one that i wore down with a piece of scrap metal. I load that up with green compound and use that as a replacement for the leather strop belt. I find the leather belt flops too much when it gets stretched after a while and can actually knock the edge right off your blade.

I grind right above the platen, so there is slack, but not too much slack. I occasionally thicken the belts by putting one on top of the other as well, it all depends on what I want to do.

With me, it's all been trial and error, and I wrecked a few cheap knives practicing. Good luck!

Also, I rarely go below the 800 grit or 15 micron belt for sharpening unless i've really banged up the knife.
 
230grains said:
If an edge is damaged, or i'm reprofiling it I start with a 220 or so, maybe lower and work my way through the grits. After an 800 grit belt, I switch to a 15 micron belt which is pretty worn. After that I usually go to the leather belt with some green compound. Lately i've been experimenting with cork belts. I originally bought them for actual blade finishing, but I have one that i wore down with a piece of scrap metal. I load that up with green compound and use that as a replacement for the leather strop belt. I find the leather belt flops too much when it gets stretched after a while and can actually knock the edge right off your blade.

I grind right above the platen, so there is slack, but not too much slack. I occasionally thicken the belts by putting one on top of the other as well, it all depends on what I want to do.

With me, it's all been trial and error, and I wrecked a few cheap knives practicing. Good luck!

Also, I rarely go below the 800 grit or 15 micron belt for sharpening unless i've really banged up the knife.
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Thanks.
 
norcalblacktail said:
The edge not the blade. I can see you didnt read the OP.
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Since you've got a full convex grind, it's really the same thing — the whole blade is your edge grind. However, I see your point and perhaps it's a bit more shiny in the area you're referring to, although it isn't very clear in the shots. I got no beef. Peace.
 
I have a belt sander in the cargo area of my Jeep Cherokee and a power converter (12v to 110v) so I can power sharpen away from home.
 
gga357 said:
If you don't mind could you give a run down of the belts/grits you use? Which you use the most? Just bought a sander and some basic belts (100 - 320 grit).
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A bit off topic, but if it's the belts you typically get at the local hardware store. they're not that good for sharpening. You might want to look at leevalley.com or supergrit.com. You can get belts that are better suited for sharpening, and will put a mirror finish on, if that's what you want.

STR said:
Probably so but it seems counter productive unless you plan to sharpen it using a miror polish every time it needs maintained. Convex gets a lot of scratches just by the nature of most of the sharpening techniques so I don't think its a good idea. If you dull it good you are going to be a long time getting it back to sharp if you try to maintain a mirror polish.
STR
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Back on topic... I find that if I sharpen a knife to a higher finish (or any level for that matter), I can maintain it at that level for quite a while, so I guess I'm not understanding why you consider it "counter productive"? I don't necessairly think you have to bring it to a mirror, but if you do, my experience is, you can usually maintain it there, as long as you keep up with it.

cbw
 
cbwx34 said:
Back on topic... I find that if I sharpen a knife to a higher finish (or any level for that matter), I can maintain it at that level for quite a while, so I guess I'm not understanding why you consider it "counter productive"? I don't necessairly think you have to bring it to a mirror, but if you do, my experience is, you can usually maintain it there, as long as you keep up with it.

cbw
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That has been my experience as well! :thumbup: I find it far easier to properly maintain, than to re-establish, an edge. :p
 
Knifenut1013 convexed my Izula....quite the mirror finish on this edge....he was shaving hair with it when he was finished.

Sharoeningjob001.jpg
 
Sure it works, I did these and others with sandpaper and strop:

various2008-2009110.jpg

various2008-2009190.jpg


I find that a polished edge is pretty easy to maintain, just strop it ounce in a while, or you can always touch it up with the sandpaper if it gets too bad.
 
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