polishing blades

O

orange02camaro

Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Messages
29
i have a boker ak auto, i wanted to polish the blade and clip. i started off with sanding the stonewash off, going from 800-1500grit sandpaper and they went to a highspeed polishing wheel with some compound. portions of the blade are near mirror finish but other parts have a milky haze on them that i cant get off. ive tried sanding more polishing more but nothing works. any suggestions?
 
I have tried using as fine a grit paperas 3000 and buffed it witha dremel using green compound but didnt get it perfect yet.
 
The compound might be contaminated or less-than-pure. Green stick compounds have been known to leave a milky/hazy finish, due to other abrasives in the mix (sometimes aluminum oxide at larger particle size), or due to the lack of purity (contaminants) in the compound. Any 'stick' compound will likely be prone to this, as it's not very refined and therefore less expensive than more 'pure' compounds.

How many steps in grit, between the 800/1500? That could make a difference too. If going straight from one to the other, the 1500 might have a tough time removing all of the 800 grit scratches. Narrowing the 'gaps' in the grit sequence (such as 800 > 1000 > 1200 > 1500) makes the desired end result easier. And 1500 can be somewhat borderline, in terms of how much of a mirror it'll produce. Going to 2000 or higher could help with that.


David
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
The compound might be contaminated or less-than-pure. Green stick compounds have been known to leave a milky/hazy finish, due to other abrasives in the mix (sometimes aluminum oxide at larger particle size), or due to the lack of purity (contaminants) in the compound. Any 'stick' compound will likely be prone to this, as it's not very refined and therefore less expensive than more 'pure' compounds.

How many steps in grit, between the 800/1500? That could make a difference too. If going straight from one to the other, the 1500 might have a tough time removing all of the 800 grit scratches. Narrowing the 'gaps' in the grit sequence (such as 800 > 1000 > 1200 > 1500) makes the desired end result easier. And 1500 can be somewhat borderline, in terms of how much of a mirror it'll produce. Going to 2000 or higher could help with that.


David
Click to expand...

i did 800 1000 then 1500 i believe. i also used a green stick compound then a white stick compound as well, i can try the more pure compounds. what stumped me is some portions came out perfect and others not so much
 
orange02camaro said:
i did 800 1000 then 1500 i believe. i also used a green stick compound then a white stick compound as well, i can try the more pure compounds. what stumped me is some portions came out perfect and others not so much
Click to expand...

I think that bolded part is the clue. Probably needs more work with the sanding in the areas that aren't quite perfect, to completely erase/minimize the coarser scratches. That's where narrowing the gaps in grit will help. If not doing that, more work will be needed at the mid/fine grits to make sure the coarsest scratches are gone. If the sanding is well-done prior, the compounds will be a lot more effective. The areas that do look better right now are testament to that, and suggest the compound itself is likely OK for the job. If the sanding scratches are still a little coarse in some portions, the compounds will have a very tough time fixing that on their own.


David
 
Last edited:
This happened to me, you might have been applying a little more pressure while sanding in some areas than others, when using a thinner sand paper you have to make sure you finger are sanding over every part of the steel in long smooth strokes, or you'll have parts where you didn't quite sand everything evenly.

Think of it as brushing your hair, start from the back, and work your way foward with each grit.
 
I'm agreeing w/ the posters ahead of me. 1500 is mighty coarse to go directly to polish with. Scratches will be "blurred" w/ polishing, but not eliminated
(easily anyway). I take mine to 3000-- if 3000 hard to find, at least p/u some Norton 2000 and 2500.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top