mirror finish tiger pattern

[kaizo]

Hi I've recently taken interest into knives (by extension of trying to make sheaths) so I've picked up some sharpening stones and tried to sharpen it following the instructions on the sticky on this forum. I've somewhat achieved a mirror finish but its streaked in a manner like a tiger pattern. I'm certain that I am doing something fundermentally wrong but I'm not sure what to change...

I would like to practice and improve on this but would it be possible if anyone could kindly point me in the right direction please?

I've got 2 stones each with 2 surfaces: corse, fine (grit unspecified by manufacturer) and very fine (6000 grit) with very very fine (10,000 grit).

Thanks for your help in advanced.

 

[n7titan]

Just like sanding, when going from coarse to fine you'll need to spend time on each successive grit to make sure all the scratches from the previous ones are gone.
If you arrive at super fine and still see deep scratches that are tough to remove, you need to go back a step.

One problem is if your grits have too much of a gap between steps you'll spend forever on the finer one trying to remove previous scratches. 6k to 10k shouldn't bee too troublesome, the question is what are the gaps in your unspecified one and the rest.

Do you have any pictures? That would help.

 

[kaizo]

Thank you very much for your reply

Its a bit hard to see but this is what I mean by tigering the bevel has polished and non-polished streaks:

below are rough stone (the bigger one) and the 6000 grit:

and below are the fine stone (the bigger one) and the 10000 grit stone:

Again thank you very much for taking the time to help me.

 

[n7titan]

What knife is that? If it's an actual damascus patter that may just be the folded grain.

Also is the which parts are polished? It's a bit difficult to see from the picture, can you describe the texture differences on the stripes? Normally steel is even through and through; something like that would just be gunk on the blade.

If it's damascus steel it may be that the differing steels polish at different rates. So one steel may sand down faster and leave valleys in the overall blade, although I'm only speaking theory. In practice I don't think the differences are large enough to really make a pattern that apparent.

 

[HwangJino]

Either the bevel isn't flat, or possible that there is carbon in it and raising a patina?

 

[kn4wd]

either carbon or delamination, yes Damascus will if not done properly delaminate, that would be the only way etching solution could get into the bevel. run a fingernail down the bevel and see if it catches if it does it is delamination pretty common on Pakistani Damascus

 

[kaizo]

What knife is that? If it's an actual damascus patter that may just be the folded grain.

Also is the which parts are polished? It's a bit difficult to see from the picture, can you describe the texture differences on the stripes? Normally steel is even through and through; something like that would just be gunk on the blade.

If it's damascus steel it may be that the differing steels polish at different rates. So one steel may sand down faster and leave valleys in the overall blade, although I'm only speaking theory. In practice I don't think the differences are large enough to really make a pattern that apparent.

Thanks for your reply its this knife:

https://www.etsy.com/transaction/234018238

When I run my finger down the side of the bevel it is smooth and I don't notice any difference in texture on either the matt or polished part of the blade. Is it common for damascus steel blades to appear different on the bevel?

They say its 176 true layers so I think its actual damascus and not just surface treatment but its pretty low in numbers (I think it was something like by American standard it has to be over 400 layers to qualify as damascus). I read somewhere it is Pakistani damascus as well. For the price I paid (£50) I'm quite happy with what I got it seems like a nice thick and strong blade.

On a related note I am thinking of getting a custom knife from the same manufactuer in 440C steel (they essentially told me they could offer that to me for around the same price as my current knife). But in your opinion should I steer clear of this? Its a 7inch blade, micarta grip, 440C steel with my crest on.

Thanks for your help again.

 

[kaizo]

either carbon or delamination, yes Damascus will if not done properly delaminate, that would be the only way etching solution could get into the bevel. run a fingernail down the bevel and see if it catches if it does it is delamination pretty common on Pakistani Damascus

I don't notice any catching in particular so I'm not sure if its delaminating Athough I think it is Pakistani damascus steel. Does the description in the link in my above post fit the bill?

 

[kaizo]

double post

 

[n7titan]

The maker says it's 1095/15N20 damascus. Both are carbon steels and will patina/rust. I'm guessing since you can't feel a texture difference and assuming the bevel is nice and flat, the pattern is just from the damascus.

The two steels probably have different patina patterns that would also add contrast.

440C is a perfectly serviceable steel, but most consider it low end when you have so many choices out there. I'd ask what other options he has for stainless.

Here's a quote that sums it up well

price range ...and biases. I'm taking your point on your 440c for instance. It gets a pretty undeserved bad rap in some cases (a lot of times based on other steels from a bad company or china which are marked "440" but arent the same AT ALL)

I've used it for over 15 years and not had a problem, including batonning, chopping and some other pretty rough work besides. this steel has actually impressed me a lot over the years for what is considered "not too tough" and the only reason i use others in some cases is other people's biases of it. It's all relative... like saying "which MMA fighter is tougher" Sure, some are tougher than others, but if you had to fight one, i guarantee all are way tougher than you'll need in most cases.

 

[kn4wd]

I have several and none are like this, and to answer your next question they are 1n520, 1095 1n520 -1084 5160 and 1n520. maybe flux where the smith welded it,pm me and I will send pics of mine. the steel on the bevel should be shiny no pattern visible to the naked eye. I don't have any power hammers just forge anvil and 2 to 12 pound crosspein hammers. I have one from Alabama Damascus,the rest I forged myself. I would post pics here if I could. in fact my name is dewey and if you will go to storm the castle and look under knives made by visitors you will see some of mine, the atlas forge on there is mineand he states this on the site. been making knives since 14 and I am 59 now.i assure you there should be nothing but shiny metal on the bevel, it should polish out if it were contrast of the two metals you would not have to re etch it if you polished the blade. the pattern is visible only after it is etched in acid, the acid eats some of the softer metal away you lightly hit the high spots 1n520 and it turns shiny.

 

[kaizo]

The maker says it's 1095/15N20 damascus. Both are carbon steels and will patina/rust. I'm guessing since you can't feel a texture difference and assuming the bevel is nice and flat, the pattern is just from the damascus.

The two steels probably have different patina patterns that would also add contrast.

440C is a perfectly serviceable steel, but most consider it low end when you have so many choices out there. I'd ask what other options he has for stainless.

Here's a quote that sums it up well

Thanks for the reply. I've asked him with the full list that kn4wd kindly gave me but they told me that they only have stocks of 440C unfortunately. Judging from what you said it might be a good beginner knife that I could learn a bit more before really investing (its around £50 so it doesn't cost the world).

 

[kaizo]

I have several and none are like this, and to answer your next question they are 1n520, 1095 1n520 -1084 5160 and 1n520. maybe flux where the smith welded it,pm me and I will send pics of mine. the steel on the bevel should be shiny no pattern visible to the naked eye. I don't have any power hammers just forge anvil and 2 to 12 pound crosspein hammers. I have one from Alabama Damascus,the rest I forged myself. I would post pics here if I could. in fact my name is dewey and if you will go to storm the castle and look under knives made by visitors you will see some of mine, the atlas forge on there is mineand he states this on the site. been making knives since 14 and I am 59 now.i assure you there should be nothing but shiny metal on the bevel, it should polish out if it were contrast of the two metals you would not have to re etch it if you polished the blade. the pattern is visible only after it is etched in acid, the acid eats some of the softer metal away you lightly hit the high spots 1n520 and it turns shiny.

Thank you for your reply and sorry my account doesn't let me PM people

But from what you told me it does raise concern that I am having these effects...