Mirror polishing a production knife

D

DeckardB26354

Joined
Feb 22, 2009
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43
If a person wanted to mirror-polished an inexpensive folder made out of 440C stainless, what would be the best way to accomplish this.

The blade from the factory shows definite grind lines, and they are prominent enough to produce a sound when wiping it quickly with a dry cloth. In other words, it would take a lot of smoothing to achieve a mirror polish on the blade.

I tried to find a buffing wheel at the local big-box hardware store, but the ones they had disintegrated under light pressure, so they obviously are not up to the job.
 
If's its a flat grind I would start with wet/dry sandpaper on a flat surface. Moving/drawing the blade across the paper. Keep decreasing the grit until you get close to the finish you want. Final buffing with different types of rouge to get that mirror finish. Semi-chrome and Fitz paste also help the finishing process. If it's very expensive you should practice on something cheaper first. Good luck.
 
If it's a hollow grind, you could use a block of wood shaped to match the contour/radius of the grind. Clamp the knife to a table and use w/d paper wrapped around the block. Start at the plunge line and use straight strokes towards the tip. Be sure to get a uniform scratch-pattern before you move up to a finer grit.

Use water, windex or something else that's not very viscous to lube the paper and keep it from gumming up so quickly. When you're done with each grit, use FRESH, NEW dry paper and make just a few passes to really clean it up.

Do NOT sand back-and-forth in any case; you will end up with little squiggly "fish-hooks" that are a real pain to remove.

You can get a very fine finish by working up to 1200-grit w/d paper. This may well be enough for you. If not, you still want to sand to as smooth a finish as you can before buffing. Buffing doesn't remove coarse scratches, it just polishes them.

Have fun and be careful! Caution is advised because A) you could cut yourself, and B) worse yet, modifying knives can be addictive. ;)
 
If you have access to equipment:Use a 8" wheel down to 800-1000 grit belt.Then take it to a sissal buff w/grey rouge.Then to a sewn cotton buff w/green rouge and last to a loose soft cotton wheel using pink rouge.You'll get a real nice mirror polish.Use gloves and care as it gets warm and hold it tight.DM
 
Please be careful using a buffing machine IMO it the most dangerous machine in the work place. Post a pic of your knife when you finish.
 
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