mirror polish

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Aug 18, 2004
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ok, i have several questions about mirror polishing a blade.

1. what is the simplest and cheapest way to mirror polish a blade without any power tools?

2. if a blade has an epoxy coating, can it still be polished after i strip the coating?

3. if i do need power tools, what will i need to buy?

any help will be greatly appreciated :D
 
It is possible to mirror polish a blade without any power tools, or at least come very near to it. I guess technically the final step of a true mirror polsihed blade is to buff, but it is possible to get excellent results without this step.

All you need is some sandpaper, a sanding block, and lots of time. Start out with like a 220 grit and sand until all the previous scratches, marks, coating are gone. Then on to 400 and repeat. Repeat with 600, 1000, 1200, and above until the desired results are achieved. Use something hard as a sanding block to keep all the lines nice and sharp. A scrap of wood, micarta, or whatever will work just fine. HTH.
 
What Eric D said. It can be hard work. Get up to the highest grit you have available to you, preferrably up to 2500grit (although up to 1200grit, if very clean will also work). Then use some of the paste metal polishing compounds and spend a few minutes to get a nice polish.

Be aware that most epoxy-coated blades have a VERY coarse finish underneath, eg.- 80grit, to allow the epoxy to stick in the first place, so you could have some work ahead of you. Of course, the blade will start getting thinner too. That can be a good thing.

Good luck with it. You can then also get an idea what knifemakers go through when they talk about doing a hand-rubbed satin finish. Jason.
 
I stripped my Ontario Spec Plus down to the bare metal. Ughhh horrible finished work. Pitts and dents and lord knows what that was hidden with the black finish. I ran out of the 400 to 600 but just to see what I could do with it I went 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000 and it truly is like a mirror in parts. Like Jason said get the automotive rubbing compound then find a finer one to finish. You will be amazed at the result. Be prepared to spend about 8 hours straight on a 6" blade though.
 
I have a Dale Baxter handmade knife that is polished to 2000 grit. The finish is nearly mirror. It was done with no power tools, so it is possible. He said the knife took 58 hours to make (plus some finishing touches) so be prepared. This is a 9" blade.
I just polished "Callie" as the knife is named, with some Flitz after use. Looks good as new.
 
thanx alot for all of ur help. im gonna go out and give it a try and see how well it goes :)
 
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