polishing suggestions?

silverdragon33

silverdragon33

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Apr 30, 2007
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Looking for the easiest and cheapest way to polish my CGFBM. Stripped the coating and I've tried sandpaper by hand, but I'm not making much progress.
 
if you have a bench grinder, you could try a polishing wheel.

other than that, elbow grease and med-extra fine grit paper, and polishing compound.
 
A drill with a polishing wheel also works well if you do not have a bench grinder. I found this Ryobi kit with three polishing wheels and three types of polishing compound in the tool department at Home Depot.

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You would be better served by Nitrile gloves.

I prefer to go by hand. No swirls, and no glaring mistakes.
 
The bottom blade in this pic, was chemically stripped, then bead blasted to remove all remaining coating, then I started sanding with 320 grit for 1 hour all over. From there I went to 1000 grit for 4 hours and then I went to 1500 grit for 5 hours. total sanding polishing time = 10 hours andI still am not done. I need about another 2 hours to finish. I probably could have finished it n 1/3 the time with a buffing wheel

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10 hours?:eek::eek::eek:

I've stripped a few things, and the question becomes where do you stop: mirror finish or satin? To get rid of the dimples on the unground areas I used a polymer rust stripper from 3M that I got at Walmart which attaches to my drill. Then I stepped down to a Scotchbrite pad on my drill. Then 800 grit for 15 minutes. All told= 1 hour. :D:D:D
 
Scarier still is that you ONLY did the blade itself, not the guard or anything. (As the original satin knives were, I believe.) 10 hours just to do the two flats. WOW!

I like DtM's suggestion. Might go get some of them and satinize my Snake Badger. OTOH, I could just strip it and ship it to Mr. Tanguay or others and let them deal with the difficult stuff. They have better skills at it than I do - and would remove the handles to get it all up to snuff too.

Hmmmmmmmm. . . .
 
Dennis in MA said:
Scarier still is that you ONLY did the blade itself, not the guard or anything. (As the original satin knives were, I believe.) 10 hours just to do the two flats. WOW!

I like DtM's suggestion. Might go get some of them and satinize my Snake Badger. OTOH, I could just strip it and ship it to Mr. Tanguay or others and let them deal with the difficult stuff. They have better skills at it than I do - and would remove the handles to get it all up to snuff too.

Hmmmmmmmm. . . .
Click to expand...

I did the spine as well and all around the handle. I did do the dimpled areas but just enough to give them a shine. But I have no problem with ding it by hand. I feel it is worth it to me as I feel every part of the knife and I slowly bring it to the point I want.
 
the best way is a belt grinder before you hit the buffing wheels....you must get it flat and remove all pitts.....the handles must be removed to do a proper job....its alot of work but infi will polish to a chrome look.
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without handles those knives would disappear into the grass:thumbup:
 
Stripping the CGFBM is a bit more difficult than any flat mistress because of the lines running down the whole blade. I Suggest a buffing compound, 800-1000 grit sand paper and a lot of patience..
 
Oh yea, you may want to use 500-600 grit sand paper right after you strip it because when I stripped mine there was dark spots on the spine and lower part of the handle. It was almost impossible to eliminate the spots with the 1000 grit. Good Luck..
 
Start low finish high, I would start at minimum of 320 wetdry, and go up to 1500, then polish, if you are hand polishing take the sandpaper up to 2k if you can find it.
 
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