Polishing a knife...Dremel?

[joeyza]

i have heard that when using a dremel to polish the surface of a blade there is a very good chance that you can ruin the heat treat? I was about to buy a dremel before hearing this.
anyone here have any experience with this? Is it really that easy to destroy the heat treat of the steel if polishing with a dremel?

 

[willydigger]

I've polished an Ontario Rat 3, Becker BK2, Spyderco Persistence, and Boker Gnome with a Dremel, 2-inch cotton pad, and green rough. I had to sand and sand and sand with 220-2000 sandpaper first, but it ended up with a mirror finish. Depending on the heat generated with the Dremel there is a chance you could screw something up. I haven't noticed any issue with any of my blades.

It is a lot of work though. Don't think you can get a Dremel and start polishing the blade. It will not work. A lot of sanding is required. Wet sanding, nail-losing, finger-cramping, sailor-swearing, work. The harder the steel the harder the job. The 1095 BK2 and Rat were 100x more difficult than the 8cr13mov Persistence and 12c27 Boker.

All that said, do it. It is very rewarding and adds a free mirror to your EDC.

 

[joeyza]

great info thanks! an some great looking blades there:thumbup:
plannin on doin my bk7, so guess i'll be gettin ready for some hard work then with that 1095

 

[willydigger]

The BK2 was the most difficult. It was the first. I sanded and sanded and it still looked terrible. The coating on the BK's is to hide the deep grind marks. If you are anal like me, you will need to get them out. It requires a course grit which adds to the total work. I used a Mouse sander with a 60 or 80 grit pad. It took forever to do. When it was done I felt like I climbed Mt. Everest.

Buy a bunch of sand paper. Wet/Dry variety so you can wet sand. The auto-parts store will have the high grit (1500-2000) paper. 800 or 1000 will not be good enough. Also, check out Sears for green rouge. Don't bother with the red stuff Dremel has. The green is the stuff. Also check eBay for 2 inch cotton polishing pads. Don't use the Dremel supplied pads. You want a large diameter and cotton. I don't know if I'd go above 2 inch since it may generate unbalance and wobble.

The rouge will leave behind a black residue. This will wipe off with a cotton towel. Do little areas and keep the heat to a minimum.

It really is simple once you get the Dremel stage. There is no great trick or method. Common sense is all you need. Be prepared to kick the dog and beat the kids though. You will begin to question why you are punishing yourself. The answer is manly satisfaction. Nothing is greater than manly satisfaction.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Dremels are not good for polishing anything bigger than a ring. The surface contact area is too small. It would take a lot of effort to damage heat treat of a blade when polishing with a Dremel or a buffer. I guess it could be done if you really worked at it.
Buy a bench grinder, buffing wheel, and green rouge.
You will still have to sand the blade though.

 

[adinb114]

The only way to destroy the heat treat of a knife is to get it very hot. Depends on the steel, but if you can't touch it with your bare skin, let it cool down. Better yet, don't let it get that hot. A Drexel will work as long as you keep this in mind, it just might no be ideal.