Paste polish by hand: How much is enough?

[MTHall720]

I have been a knife person for many years, have tried many different brands of paste polish, and have never, ever been able to do enough polishing to get to the point where the "black" stuff stops coming off the blade. What do you think? Has anyone ever spent long enough in one session where there was no longer any ?black residue to finish coming off the blade when using polish such as Flitz, Simichrome, etc?

 

[xmtgx]

The black residue is actually the steel being rubbed off into the paste turning it black. You're done when ever you satisfied with the finish of the blade.

 

[zyhano]

You're done when the blade is sharp enough!
If the black stops coming ofd, you've effectively polished away the whole blade

 

[MTHall720]

Thanks to everyone for the input. You saved me a lot of time polishing. I thought if you did it long enough the black residue would eventually be gone.