Mirror bevel and my weapons

I

Icarusflies

Joined
Feb 25, 2016
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32
Helle Everybody;

I have decided to get a mirror type of finishing on the bevel of my SOG instinct.

These are my weapons: Spyderco Sharpmaker (Gray and White rods only), Naniwa wet stones 220, 1000, 4000 and 8000 grits, Yellow lake slate ¨rated¨ at 30000 grits, Chromium Oxide on Balsa wood and leather strop.

Yesterday I had a go but it did not work as expected so I must be doing a mistake and/or my technique is not good.

The first thing that comes to my mind is that I am not spending enough time on each stone.....

What should be my queue to move to the higher grit?

Any advice on how to obtain a mirror bevel would be appreciated.

Thank in advance;

Steve
 
As I do not sharpen free hand, my experience with this will be limited. Using the wicked edge system however, I am always checking bevels and grind patterns with a Jeweler's Loupe. These are extremely cheap tools and I highly recommend picking one up. With the wicked edge being able to sharpen both sides of the knife at one time, AND being able to vary the direction in which you are grinding, it is much easier to see the changes as you progress through the grits. You may also need something to bridge you 220 to 1000, and even 1000 to 4000, although given enough time and your bevels should be looking good. Biggest thing I can stress with the sharpmaker is practice. That and you have to find your own way of doing things with it. Best of luck.
 
Yellow Lake stones are NOT anywhere near 30k. I'd leave that out completely - and if you are doing this freehand, stick to the Naniwas through 8k then go to the CrOx on a leather strop.
 
vono360 said:
As I do not sharpen free hand, my experience with this will be limited. Using the wicked edge system however, I am always checking bevels and grind patterns with a Jeweler's Loupe. These are extremely cheap tools and I highly recommend picking one up. With the wicked edge being able to sharpen both sides of the knife at one time, AND being able to vary the direction in which you are grinding, it is much easier to see the changes as you progress through the grits. You may also need something to bridge you 220 to 1000, and even 1000 to 4000, although given enough time and your bevels should be looking good. Biggest thing I can stress with the sharpmaker is practice. That and you have to find your own way of doing things with it. Best of luck.
Click to expand...

Thanks
 
In my (limited) experience with mirror polishing a blade bevel:

1. A mirror polish happens somewhere in the 3 micron territory. That's around 4000 JIS according to the GUGC. So your 4k or 8k Norton should do the job.
2. You need to grind on a single stone until the scratch pattern from the previous stone is gone. The jumps between stones will determine how long this takes on each higher grit stone.
3. It's normally recommended to only progress in doubles of the previous grit. So, something like 220, 500, 1000, 2000... . However, you can certainly make much larger jumps. You just need to grind a bit longer to remove that scratch pattern from the previous, more coarse, stone. I've routinely jumped from a Nubatama 180 to 1000 to 5000 and achieved a pretty nice mirror polish on a number of steels.
4. Extending #3: If you desire a mirror polish that is near perfect, it will take much longer on each grit, as those last few scratches from the previous stones just hold on. The closer your grit progression is, the easier this will be. Of course that means more stones, but less time per stone.

All this said, I think a mirror polish is totally over rated. It's really cool a few times. You can do some fun "wow" tricks like cutting circles in fine paper and stuff like that. But I don't find these edges to be all that practical. I'm currently carrying two blades every day, one of which is mirror polished, "just because".

Good luck!

Brian.
 
A mirror polish should form at the 4k stone.

You need to do alot of work at the 1k stone

It should be a uniform "hazy" finish. No patches.

Build a nice slurry with your flattening stone, nagura, diamond plate.

On the 4k.

Sharpen without adding more water. Let the stone blacken with swarf.

When the stone starts to sparkle wipe away the slurry and swarf to reveal a mirror edge.
 
What Naniwa stones do you have? Econo, Professional, super stones, etc? They don't make many 4000 grit stones... and I've never seen the ones they do have offered.
 
bgentry said:
In my (limited) experience with mirror polishing a blade bevel:

1. A mirror polish happens somewhere in the 3 micron territory. That's around 4000 JIS according to the GUGC. So your 4k or 8k Norton should do the job.
2. You need to grind on a single stone until the scratch pattern from the previous stone is gone. The jumps between stones will determine how long this takes on each higher grit stone.
3. It's normally recommended to only progress in doubles of the previous grit. So, something like 220, 500, 1000, 2000... . However, you can certainly make much larger jumps. You just need to grind a bit longer to remove that scratch pattern from the previous, more coarse, stone. I've routinely jumped from a Nubatama 180 to 1000 to 5000 and achieved a pretty nice mirror polish on a number of steels.
4. Extending #3: If you desire a mirror polish that is near perfect, it will take much longer on each grit, as those last few scratches from the previous stones just hold on. The closer your grit progression is, the easier this will be. Of course that means more stones, but less time per stone.

All this said, I think a mirror polish is totally over rated. It's really cool a few times. You can do some fun "wow" tricks like cutting circles in fine paper and stuff like that. But I don't find these edges to be all that practical. I'm currently carrying two blades every day, one of which is mirror polished, "just because".

Good luck!

Brian.
Click to expand...

Thanks....my purpose is purely impractical....but I am a man so.....
 
DeadboxHero said:
A mirror polish should form at the 4k stone.

You need to do alot of work at the 1k stone

It should be a uniform "hazy" finish. No patches.

Build a nice slurry with your flattening stone, nagura, diamond plate.

On the 4k.

Sharpen without adding more water. Let the stone blacken with swarf.

When the stone starts to sparkle wipe away the slurry and swarf to reveal a mirror edge.
Click to expand...

Thanks
 
Jason B. said:
What Naniwa stones do you have? Econo, Professional, super stones, etc? They don't make many 4000 grit stones... and I've never seen the ones they do have offered.
Click to expand...

You know what, I think you are completely correct. My stones are Norton, I just got it mixed up in my head....
 
You never mentioned what you did that came out wrong... that might help in the diagnosis.

But just the Nortons should give you a pretty decent mirror finish... without anything else. Just look at your work as you progress... when one stone doesn't look like it's making any improvement, move to the next one. (Conversely, if the next stone doesn't look like it's doing much, drop back down). The stones compliment each other nicely... should go pretty quick (depending on the steel).
 
cbwx34 said:
You never mentioned what you did that came out wrong... that might help in the diagnosis.

But just the Nortons should give you a pretty decent mirror finish... without anything else. Just look at your work as you progress... when one stone doesn't look like it's making any improvement, move to the next one. (Conversely, if the next stone doesn't look like it's doing much, drop back down). The stones compliment each other nicely... should go pretty quick (depending on the steel).
Click to expand...

What came wrong is that my bevel was not like a mirror.

I guess, I just need to take my time.

Thanks for the feed back
 
Sorry... I meant what combination and order of the equipment you used... not the result. :)
 
cbwx34 said:
Sorry... I meant what combination and order of the equipment you used... not the result. :)
Click to expand...

I started with the 4000 then the 8000 after which I used the highest grit hone I have which is around 30000. Then I finished with some crhromium oxide on balsa wood and finally some stropping on leather.

I just think I need to spend more time on each stone and be observe the progression of the bevel.
 
You are correct, spend more time on the stones, especially the 1k and 4k.

If you don't have a mirror or close to it finish by 8k then something was missed.
 
Icarusflies said:
I started with the 4000 then the 8000 after which I used the highest grit hone I have which is around 30000. Then I finished with some crhromium oxide on balsa wood and finally some stropping on leather.

I just think I need to spend more time on each stone and be observe the progression of the bevel.
Click to expand...

Just for an idea, I buzzed this knife thru the 1K -> 4K -> 8K Norton Stones...

c8f22cf275c78a454d5b26b6b6953c3f_zpseeagkotq.jpg

(Sorry the bottom pic is a bit out of focus).

Did that in about 10 minutes, just to give you an idea of results. If your 8K isn't doing much, you can create a little slurry with the 'Prep Stone' that should have come with it (or a fine diamond or maybe the medium ceramic if you don't have the Prep Stone, although I haven't tried the ceramic). Anyway, just to give you an idea... hope it helps a bit.

My guess is also what Jason said... lay the foundation with the 1K first.
 
This one right off the 8k as well. Really pays to take your time on the 4k, that is key to that set of stones. Any issues coming off that into the 8k will cause issues.

000_0014_zpsjye0scn9.jpg
 
Again, the Yellow Lake is nowhere near 30k. More like 8k if you happen to get a good one from what I've read. I would just steer clear of using it personally. It's more of a hone collector's stone.
 
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