My First Try at Mirror Polish

[mattchibi]

Here is my first try at both convexing an edge as well as mirror polishing it. Obviously its not as clear as a mirror would be, I dont have a dremel tool and Im not even sure this is the proper way to do it.

First, I used my Edge Pro to do the convexing. Its a bit tricky but in theory you are just sharpening a 18/18 angles to get it sharp first, and then knocking down the shoulder by setting at a low angle of 10 degrees or something like that. I also was rolling the knife purposefully and counting my strokes to get the most even convex possible. This isnt the best way, I know, but until I get some water stones, this will have to do.

I then used the mousepad + sandpaper technique, went from 400 - 800 - 1000 - 2000 grit of automotive sandpaper. It didnt quite give me a mirror polish at all, even after using some Autoglym metal polish. So I went way overboard and took the 2000 grit Edge Pro sticker sandpapers and the 3000 grit as well and manually polished the grind until it would polish no more.

Im pretty pleased with the results, all in all.

 

[Decimator22]

Very nice!

 

[Honed_Edge]

What was the original finish? It looks like the factory vertical grind lines are still a bit visible. It's obvious that you got a good polish.

The hardest part for me is getting out the factory finish. After that it's just a matter of spending enough time on each grit to get out the deeper scratches. It takes so much time with just finger power! The good news is next time you get the itch you can go back at it, no harm done!

It's awesome making your knife just a little bit more yours!!! Keep at it and don't give up. Cheap knives are good practice and soft steel is a great learning medium.