Mirror polishing satin and bead finished blades

Pete1977

Pete1977

Joined
Apr 15, 2002
Messages
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Does anyone have any techniques/tricks to mirror polish a satin finished or bead blasted blade? I am not a fan of either of these finishes, and prefer a dull shine or highly mirror polished blade. However, finding "Tactical" or "hard use" knives with mirror polishes is becoming increasingly difficult it seems.
How could I mirror polish or even just shine up a satin or bead finish?

peter
 
I have smoothed out some really rough bead blast finshes, such as those found on CRKT knives, by just takng some 600 grit sandpaper to the blade. I do not think that I completely removed the pits, it was sort of a matte finish, but one that I liked a whole lot better. If you really want to polish it, you might want to start at a lower grit, polish until the pits are entirely gone, then move up the grit spectrum until you have what you want.
 
First, let me start that this would also be a good topic for the Knifemaker's Section, as they have a lot of experience with finishing, and you might want to post there as well.

Second, I would like to say that of the 3 finishes you mentioned, Satin is the most durable, and gives you the best ability to maintain it yourself, providing you have some skills, and the right Scotchbrite pad.

You need a buffer to modify either of the finishes properly. 3600 rpm, 1 hp recommended, hard felt buff to maintain grind lines, even though you are still going to smooth them out somewhat.

If you do not have experience using a buffer, this is not the time to get it without assistance from an experienced person. You can hurt yourself VERY badly, possibly even kill yourself.

If that is not an option, learn to use sandpaper, and find access to 3M 800-2500 grit. From there, you can use Japanese fingerstones to bring the blade to a semi-mirror finish, Flitz will also help.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
learn to use sandpaper
Click to expand...
Fifteen years of working on boats of all shapes and sizes, I think I've picked something up on using sandpaper. :D I will try that, since I've no access to a buffer and no desire to kill myself :mad:

Where can one find Flitz?

peter
 
But, there is a big difference beween sanding hardened steel with an eye towards final finish, and other materials.

Hand sanding (this works best on folder blades that can be removed from the handles) ideally requires that you work in opposing directions with each grit, so you can see the scratches removed from the previous grit, it is very tedious, and very easy to screw up, so you must be VERY patient, and be willing to go back to square one.

Fred Lohman used to have decent Japanese finger stones, I don't know if he still does.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Hand sanding is a decent option here if you don't have a belt grinder or access to one. Bead blasted finishes are the bigger bear of the two you ask about, IMO. Some of those micro-dents can go fairly deep. :eek:
Also, as was mentioned earlier, this requires a goodly amount of patience.

I belt grind my blades down to 400 grit and then proceed to hand sand from there. It takes a couple of hours to go from the 400 grit to 600 grit and then to finish at 1000 grit. If you get impatient, it'll take ya even longer because it's easy to screw up the finish and not so easy to undo the damage. :eek: :mad:

I hope your project goes well and more importantly, have fun! The work will all be worth it after your done and you hold it up to the light and go Ooooo and aaahhh! :D
 
G'day,
I haven't gone as far as a mirror finish but a couple of hours with wet-and-dry (400, 800, and 1200) gave me a nice satin finish to the hollow ground part of my small Sebenza. I wound the paper around a variety of wine and champagne corks to get the right curves.
Just take your time, be careful, and enjoy the result.
Greg
 
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