making a mirror polish on a blade?

sogflash

sogflash

Joined
Aug 28, 2011
Messages
1,600
is it possible to make a mirror polish on a blade without any power tools? just your hands? exactly what is needed, and how do I do it? I guess the laser engravings on the blade would get polished away, but I could live with that.
 
You can use wet/dry sandpaper and just keep going higher in grit till you reach the finish that you are looking for. Semichrome will aid in the final step.
 
my vote would be a complete set of micromesh sheets, from the coarsest to remove the factory finish to the finest to get perfect miror polish, the finest grade micromesh produce scratches that you can't see without magnfication. prepare to spend hours and hours rubbing your blade.

this is f you want a truly perfect mirror polish. if a very refined and bright satin finish where you can see yourself in it but cloudy don't bother with micromesh, sandpaper up to 1500 and polishing paste will do.
 
I did this to one of my knives. in grits 180 , 220, 600, 800, 1200, 1500, 2000. then you can use any stropping compound or an autopolish :) hope that helps
 
pwet said:
my vote would be a complete set of micromesh sheets, from the coarsest to remove the factory finish to the finest to get perfect miror polish, the finest grade micromesh produce scratches that you can't see without magnfication. prepare to spend hours and hours rubbing your blade.

this is f you want a truly perfect mirror polish. if a very refined and bright satin finish where you can see yourself in it but cloudy don't bother with micromesh, sandpaper up to 1500 and polishing paste will do.
Click to expand...
Not sure if I could recommend the kit. While the micro-mesh sheets last longer than sandpaper, the price for the kit is pretty up there at about $45 not including shipping. I'm also not sure how one goes about cleaning off the loaded metal as I doubt soap and water would make much of a dent, and WD-40 doesn't seem like the best thing to use on the cloth backed sheets, which can absorb it.

Actually, finding that even Rc 60 steel(CTS-XHP) can get scratches easily, I'm not sure I would recommend a mirror finish at all. I've had a thing for it in the past, but I feel only certain steels are meant for it. S30V and CPM-M4 was near impossible to do even with a 6" buffer. CTS-XHP was relatively easy. H1 was easy too, but that one scuffs like butter. For carbon steels the benefits are clear cut as it would increase resistance to corrosion, but it takes a certain kind of crazy to do it on stainless.

Though I'd still recommend Mother's Mag & Aluminum Polish as a finishing step;).
 
micromesh will work just fine with oil, iirc oil is recommended over water.
 
Semichrome is a polishing paste. A little goes a long way. You can purchase at many hardware stores.

http://www.competitionchemicals.com/

S30V can be done with with some success using the methods I mentioned above. This Sebanza did not come with a polished blade. You will find that a high polish on a blade, if a user, will show marks and scratches quicker then lets say, a satin finish. Like Noctis 3880 said, some steels are near impossible to do.
MyKnives014-vi.jpg
 
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