Polish vs Sharp

Z

Zippiot

Joined
Sep 22, 2006
Messages
13
I noticed that when I polish a blade it loses much of its sharpness...

How do you keep it sharp and keep it shiny, or is that the trade off?
 
Are you useing a buffer?

Im not sure how they did it, but I have heard of guys who found that they were dulling their cutting ege with the buffing wheel....
 
Yes you can buff the edge to dull.Cant explain it myself,just always figured I was thinning the edge and rolling it over when buffing.I just set the edge again after any blade buffing and then buff the edge lightly again and the edge is back.
Bruce
 
You can buff the edge after a sharpening without dulling it, though I don't recommend using a buffer for this, try a leather honing belt or loaded strop.
 
You can polish the edge and sharpen at the same time as long as it's a convex edge. I use 2000 grit sandpaper with a post-it pad for backing. When the sandpaper gets worn out, it will put a high polish on the edge while leaving it really sharp. This won't work if the knife is very dull, it has to be at least working sharpness before you begin the polish sharpening.
 
I was using 2000 grit sandpaper too...
Before polishing with the 2k grit the blade tears through paper and plastic (stuff I see lying around while sharpening) but once it gets all nice and shiny...totally dull. It may be my method, but I just use a small wooden sanding block.

So maybe I'll just keep it sharp and try to make the appearance uniform, getting out as many file/grind/hammer marks as possible.

How do the rest of you get the blade shiny, durable and SHARP?
 
I got 5 knives to send out in the Monday morning mail....Im VERY interested to see what people have to say of this topic!
 
It's probably the angle that your hitting the blade with the sandpaper. Also your strokes should be accross the width of the blade not the length of the blade. You can also make circular motions to polish the edge but never lenghthwise on the edge. I only do this to work on the edge not to polish the whole sides of the blade.
 
You sharpen a curved blade by having a sharpener which is narrwo enough to get into the curve. You could take a strip of wood about 0.5" wide, slightly dome one side and use it as a backing for wet and dry paper. If you have a small secondary bevel, use a rod type ceramic or diamond hone. Grinding it in the first place is another matter :eek:

Assuming that the loss of sharpness after polishing has nothing to do with the polished edge tending to slide now that all the micro teeth left by coarser grits have been removed, I would guess that its the angle that buff/paper is leaving the edge at. I know that when using soft foam behind sand paper it is important not to bear down too hard otherwise the foam springs back behind the blade as you strop, taking the paper past the very cutting edge at a blunt angle. Maybe the same happens with buffing?
 
If you are polishing the edge, its a fine, delicate process. Polish an edge the same way you strop....you can strop at too much of an angle and round the edge right off a sharp knife. To polish an edge correctly, you want the buffer or strop to just barely touch the very very edge of your actual cutting bevel so that you dont round it. I have found that to make a scary, scary sharp edge, all i do is take a lansky type stone, and glue a strip of leather to it. Put some polish on that leather and basically strop with the lansy at the exact same angle you sharpened. you can get mirror polishes this way on the actual cutting edge...great for cutting tests
 
That would be my guess, less angle with your finish buff. I sharpen before my final buff with the green wheel, and it works great for me. Good Luck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top