MIRROR POLISHING

OOPS! :rooleyes: didn't quite finish tat one,
heres the rest of the qyestion.

What is the most time efficient way of mirror polishing a blade?
right now I'm grinding up to 400 grit ,hand (wet) sanding from there to 1200 grit then to the buffer.
If I take my time it looks pretty good but one missed 600 grit scratch at 1200 grit shure ruins your day.

ThanX
Eric
 
change the direction in which your sanding between grits. ex. 600 sand lengthwise, 1200, sand width wise. if you want a hand rubbed finish, finish with 1200 lengthwise. if you want a mirror polish, just finish up with the buffer, after the 1200 widthwise.
 
Eric, get some 500 grit belts and sand thru that. Then take a used one and grind the roughest toughest hardest steel you have on it till it's major worn out. Then use it to grind the blade till it shines up.Be careful not to let it get too hot. You'll still need to use a loose muslin wheel with either white rouge or green chrome to put an even shine on it, but this will cut out alot of buffing and in your case, hand sanding. I also use Formax F-122 that I got from K&G. It seems to help alot and keeps the blade a little cooler. Take care! Michael

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Always think of your fellow knife makers as partners in the search for the perfect blade, not as people trying to compete with you and your work!http://www.nebsnow.com/L6steel
Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms!!!
 
GO TRIZAC ,use them and a sisel wheel with the K&G most agressive compound (black)then green chromium ,white diamond in that order no touch with hand sanding if you watch what your doing with the trizac's take a Blac marker and color the blade each time you change grit's

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TbarK Custom Knives
http://vip.hpnc.com/~tbark Therefore I erge you brother's in view of God's Mercy to offer your body's as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship Romans 12-1
 


Hey Eric, nice to see you on board. We spoke after you came back from the show. I definantly agree about change directions when hand sanding.

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KSwinamer

Atheism....A non-prophet organization
 
Thanks for all the the help!!
smile.gif
It's kind of interesting to see all the different ways every one has of acheiving the same result.

Kisu, lost your phone # in the shuffle, drop me a line on my E-mail when you get a chance.

L8R
cool.gif

 
3M has some new deburring wheels out that are rated medium & fine grit. These are 6" & 8" wheels, and feel as light as cork, but sure take out scratches like magic.
They run about $30-$50 apiece, depending on size & grit.
If anybody needs the part #, I can get it tomorrow when I'm out in the shop.
PS Happy Mother's Day to all the womenfolk out there!
 
Harry,
I use a very similar wheel, sold as an "Anderson wheel" which works very much the same way. I have been wanting to try the finer 3M wheel though. I saw where J&L has them. I am going to have get them a try.
I use this wheel for more of a brushed looking finish...

C Wilkins
 
IMHO, the magic of a mirror polish begins at 60 grit. Very often what you are trying to buff or sand out at 600 grit is the bottom of a 60 grit scratch, which you can't see until you get to 600 grit. After, 120 grit all you should be doing is sanding, not leveling. Most of the levelling should in fact be done with 60 grit, going back and forth lightly until the blade is as even as you can make it. Sanding is easy. Trying to level with a 400 grit abrasive is darn near impossible, and unless the blade is dead level and even, no amount of sanding is going to remove all the scratches. Sure you can smear them with sisal and a rough compound or an abrasive wheel, but you also smear your grind lines.

There is no secret to mirror polishing. Mirror polishing takes about five minutes with dark green rouge on a hard buff. Trying to polish out 60/120/400 grit scratches takes forever and ruins the cleanness of the grind.

Go slow. I think you'll find that in many cases going back to 220 grit and doing it right is a lot easier than trying to fix something at 600 grit. Personally, I don't try to polish out scratches. I sand out scratches and polish out the haze that's left after that is done. The result is that clean dark mirror finish that makes people smile when they pick up your blade.

How do you know when it's good enough? When knifemakers begin to ask you how you did that. Then you get to smile too.

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Jerry Hossom
www.hossom.com
 
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