Polishing compound starter kit?

J

jaymeister99

Joined
Sep 14, 2010
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I just got my first knife finished off! But I still want the mirror polish. Its 440C. Any ideas for polishing compounds?

There are still a few relatively deep scratches I want to get out. Hit it with black then white? Should I even bother with a blue or green?
 
I usually hand sand to about 1000 grit, then hit it with green, white and then pink. Black is a good starting point if you want to remove some finer scratches, but use light pressure!
 
If you can feel the scratch at all sand more, buffing will just make them stand out more or even make it wavy.

I'm sure you have heard how dangerous a buffer can be, I have a huge scar on my palm to remind me.
 
This knife was 99% belt finished, no buffer involved.

015lrg.jpg


I think you want to use black, green, white then red. I might have that wrong, I use green and pink but my finish is not a perfect mirror, just shiny.

Black compound seems super aggressive to me, be careful with it. Good luck!
 
How about using just green and white? Or just white then pink? I ask for only two since I will hope to have a buffer soon. But I don't want to deal with more than one buffer and two wheels if possible. I'll try to stick to the belts for most of the work (I too have a fear of buffers).
 
Daniel Fairly Knives said:
This knife was 99% belt finished, no buffer involved.

015lrg.jpg


I think you want to use black, green, white then red. I might have that wrong, I use green and pink but my finish is not a perfect mirror, just shiny.

Black compound seems super aggressive to me, be careful with it. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Which belts did you use to get that kind of shine?
 
If you want to have just 2 compounds, I personally would go with green on a treated (yellow) buff and pink on a loose buff. The pink/loose combo is also the best for handle material.
 
darrin sanders said:
If you want to have just 2 compounds, I personally would go with green on a treated (yellow) buff and pink on a loose buff. The pink/loose combo is also the best for handle material.
Click to expand...

Is the Pink like a secret or something? :eek:

I did a search on Yahoo and only found a couple of sites selling it. Sounds like it gives an amazing finish.
 
My pink and green compounds come from Jantz. It's good stuff. I'm with Darrin, pink and green will get you by w/o white if you could have just two.
 
jaymeister99 said:
Which belts did you use to get that kind of shine?
Click to expand...
Gator belts up to 30 micron but 15 would be better. I then "buff" with a belt charged with green compound and then finish with a leather belt charged with pink scratchless. I finish with Flitz on a soft rag. It is no perfect mirror though, just shiny.
 
Nebulae said:
What's the order of compounds. Black, green, white, pink?
Thanks
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I think that is correct. I think red is even finer and that Pink Scratchless is white mixed with red... I'm not 100% sure. :D
 
Daniel Fairly Knives said:
Gator belts up to 30 micron but 15 would be better. I then "buff" with a belt charged with green compound and then finish with a leather belt charged with pink scratchless. I finish with Flitz on a soft rag. It is no perfect mirror though, just shiny.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about hitting a leather belt with compound. Thats how they used to do slipjoints in the factories back in the day (I think Case still does).

How long do the leather belts last?
 
I don't really know, I have only had mine for a short while. It is floppy and stretchy I know that!
 
I tried a felt belt, and it didn't work so good, I still have some experimenting to do, but I don't know about leather.
 
The leather belts last a very long time, if you don't leave them on your grinder under tension between uses. That tends to gap them out pretty quickly.
 
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