Mirror polish - how??

[dePaul]

Is there a possibility for me as a "layman knife improver" to mirror polish a blade by hand (or electric drill)? What is the correct procedure?

The reason for my asking is that a couple of my knives are scratched really badly and I´d wish to rectify this.

 

[Halycon]

take some chromium oxide (green) polishing compound, and get it onto a hard cloth buffing head for the drill (i think dremel makes some) and have at it! make sure the diameter is large enough on the buffing disk that you dont end up with radiused curves in the blade-Chromium oxide cuts rather fast. you can get it from Highland Hardware, a mail order place in Atlanta, or from just about any carving supply source.

 

[Gollnick]

Mirror polish especially takes practice to get it nice and even. So, don't start with some knife you really care about. Practice on a few junkers first.


------------------
Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com

 

[glockman99]

Are you SURE that you want a mirror-finish? What about the fingerprints and "smudges" that will then keep you very busy rubbing-off of the mirror-finish of the blade, (since they will now "show-up" on the blade)?

------------------
Dann Fassnacht
Aberdeen, WA
glockman99@hotmail.com
ICQ# 53675663

 

[bad4u]

Visit www.handamerican.com for a selection of leather hones or buy leather strips and abrasive powders to make your own.

I use a 2-surface leather hone to touch up the edges on my knives. I use 600-grit for prelimininary edge polishing followed by 10000-grit (green chromium oxide) for polishing and final edge formation.

Good stuff!

 

[dePaul]

Thank you all for the advices!!

 

[Hoodoo]

dePaul,
You might want to do a search in the shop talk forum (try the archives too). There have been a lot of posts on this in shop talk.

------------------
Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM