Need polishing help please

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KOSA549

Joined
Jul 6, 2023
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37
I am still new to customization of knives and hatchets and made a rookie mistake . I was polishing a Buck 106 to a mirror finish and grabbed some 36 grit by mistake which put some deep scratches in the HC metal before I noticed my mistake.I have tried sanding out the scratches starting with 80 grit all the way up to 320 with little to no success. I have even tried using compounds and even resorted to an angle grinder with 80 tiger paw ( sand paper wheels) with very minimal impact. PLEASE if anyone knows how I can fix this without taking out anymore metal than I already have, I am all EARS ,other wise I am afraid it's gonna have to be cerakote and I really don't want to do that to this BUCK HATCHET. Thanks in advance.
Also just for reference, I am a beginner with a Dremel , drill press and drill but I have been working with metal for 20+ years . From hasteloy to chromemoly to titanium to inconel so I am not completely clueless with metal , just clueless to the finer finishing
 
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The only way to remove the scratches is to remove more metal. There's no way around it.

And the scratches have to be removed if you coated it. Because bead blasting isn't going to do it. You'll see the scratch marks under the coating.
 
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I am having trouble understanding how you have tried 80 grit with "very minimal impact." Or do you mean you keep making it worse instead of better? Maybe post some photos of what you're dealing with?
 
That did read weird. 80 grit should be carving it off.

120

220

Angle grinder? I'm having doubts on all these threads I read.


What the hell is this axe made of? Was it forged from a crashed UFO? What the hell is going on?


Is it a conspiracy of flap disks?
 
Scratches are low spots. You have to bring all the material down to the same depth. That means the entire surface so everything is flat and even.
 
If you made the scratches with 36 grit sandpaper, they are going to be deep. You'd probably have to do the whole head with 36 grit to make everything even, then move your way up through gradually finer grits -- never taking too big a step.

The axe is 5160 at 57-58 Rc, so it's not super hard. But if you already took an angle grinder to it, who knows how much damage you did.

At this point, you might want to call it a user and stop trying to fancy it up.
 
Mr.Wizard said:
I am having trouble understanding how you have tried 80 grit with "very minimal impact." Or do you mean you keep making it worse instead of better? Maybe post some photos of what you're dealing with?
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The scratches that the 36 grit made were deep in comparison because I thought it was 320 as I just glanced at it and I applied heavier than normal pressure as I was going for a mirror polish. The 80 grit did help some ,but it was on an angle grinder and even after several attempts of light to medium pressure ( trying not to eat away too much material) and working back up to 1200 grit , you can still see the scratches from the 36 grit but my finger nail will NOT catch them at all. working on pics
 
Twindog said:
If you made the scratches with 36 grit sandpaper, they are going to be deep. You'd probably have to do the whole head with 36 grit to make everything even, then move your way up through gradually finer grits -- never taking too big a step.

The axe is 5160 at 57-58 Rc, so it's not super hard. But if you already took an angle grinder to it, who knows how much damage you did.

At this point, you might want to call it a user and stop trying to fancy it up.
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😔
 
115Italian said:
Scratches are low spots. You have to bring all the material down to the same depth. That means the entire surface so everything is flat and even.
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Actually I didn't do but just a second or two of use so there was actually no low spots. I checked before I tried to fix.
 
Grasshopperglock said:
That did read weird. 80 grit should be carving it off.

120

220

Angle grinder? I'm having doubts on all these threads I read.


What the hell is this axe made of? Was it forged from a crashed UFO? What the hell is going on?


Is it a conspiracy of flap disks?
Click to expand...
The angle grinder and flap disks were a last resort effort when everything else failed
 
Twindog said:
If you made the scratches with 36 grit sandpaper, they are going to be deep. You'd probably have to do the whole head with 36 grit to make everything even, then move your way up through gradually finer grits -- never taking too big a step.

The axe is 5160 at 57-58 Rc, so it's not super hard. But if you already took an angle grinder to it, who knows how much damage you did.

At this point, you might want to call it a user and stop trying to fancy it up.
Click to expand...
This was a little older Buck 106 that was already a user ,I'm thinking 420 but not sure as seller claimed it was an 80's model . I figured I could use it for experience for my new hobby . It had mild rust and a few dings. I was very careful with the grinder as it was a last resort. I have worked with metal for decades and never removed more than 1/32 . If all else fails, I will send it to David Yellowhorse and have him do his native steel , like he did on the "rising wisdom" I have. The middle one.
https://imgur.com/a/iEgjQys
 
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https://imgur.com/a/5SbLMo8
Not the best at photography , but you can see the scratches on the axe head. They have zero edges and are only visible but I cannot feel an edge even with a scribe. This is after using 80-1200 grit and a scratch removal compound and after the grinder with 80 and 120 grit.
 
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KOSA549 said:
The scratches that the 36 grit made were deep in comparison because I thought it was 320 as I just glanced at it and I applied heavier than normal pressure as I was going for a mirror polish. The 80 grit did help some ,but it was on an angle grinder and even after several attempts of light to medium pressure ( trying not to eat away too much material) and working back up to 1200 grit , you can still see the scratches from the 36 grit but my finger nail will NOT catch them at all. working on pics
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Stop with the angle grinder. Get some good, sharp 80 grit sand paper, and hand sand across the remaining 36-grit scratches until you have completely removed them. Sand only at one angle, do not make circles or scrub randomly. Look for the 36-grit scratches by tilting the workpiece in a bright light, trying to find the particular angle that will reflect light from them. Only when you have completely removed the 36-grit scratches, meaning they are invisible under any and all angles of light, and replaced them with 80-grit scratches (all at approximately the same angle) are you ready to move on to finer paper. Once again sand across the 80-grit scratches, this time using 120 grit paper sanding in a different but consistent direction, and again look for the 80-grit scratches using reflection of bright light. Keep repeating this process of "crossing out" the scratches with each successively finer paper until you reach a finish you are satisfied with.
 
How much knife are you going to have left remaining once these super-scratches are finally removed and you've gone all the way up through the different grits to get back to a mirror finish? I hope this is your knife we're talking about and not somebody else's knife.
 
Guy McVer said:
How much knife are you going to have left remaining once these super-scratches are finally removed and you've gone all the way up through the different grits to get back to a mirror finish? I hope this is your knife we're talking about and not somebody else's knife.
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I haven't removed more than 1/16 at the most. I have worked with metal down to .01 thousandths. And yes I am new to this and have only done 4 to this date , not foolish enough to even consider working on someone else's.
 
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