Satin Finishing

M

Mike Mossington

Joined
Jan 1, 2004
Messages
108
Anybody care to recommend the optimum grit progression for satin finishing on 440C? What grits, presumably getting finer, and what to use for the final grit? Better to use wet/dry, with water or WD-40?

On the weekend I went to 600, but that starts to look like I was trying to polish, and failed . Stop at 400? Even that looks a bit too far. I must be doing something wrong. I really prefer satin finish, especially on a longer blade (carving knife set), but can't get the look I want..
 
It's hard to get an even satin finish with grinding belts alone. If they are working knives, you might want to go to 220-320 and then use a 2"X72" Scotchbrite belt to blend it all in. It will give you a nice machine applied satin finish. You can do the bevels and flats.

There are three grades, course, medium and fine. They last forever if you don't cut them up in use. Try each one and see what works for you.
I've had my three longer than I can remember.
 
Thanks Mike. Have you used cork belts before? I have 1200 and 1400, but have never used them - I kind of like to stay with what I know. Any thoughts?
 
Mike Mossington said:
Thanks Mike. Have you used cork belts before? I have 1200 and 1400, but have never used them - I kind of like to stay with what I know. Any thoughts?
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Y/W!

You said you wanted a "satin" finish. If you're getting a reflective finish from 600 grit, which is normal, what do you think you're going to get from twice as fine an abrasive +?

Before everybody got crazy with 1000, 1200, 14-1500, 2000 grit etc, most knifemakers took it to 600 grit with either an AO belts or cork and then buffed for truly great mirror finishes if that's your poison. Now everyone has to make it ten times more complicated than it need be, for results that usually aren't as good. Something's wrong there.:confused:

On my flats, when I use a 600 grit AO disk, I take the knife from that to the buffer and withing minutes I have a true mirror finish. It's that simple.

Problem is, I hate mirror finishes. I just went that high to make sure there were no hidden harsher grit scratches in the blade and then went to a coarser grit, like 400 to start, and hand sanded the blade back to 600 and stopped.

Yes, I've used a 1000 grit cork belt twice. I just don't ever use it anymore. It just hangs on the wall, and has for many years. No real need for it that I could ever see. Higher would just compound that feeling, IMO.
 
I've never done a satin finish myself, but a good knifemaker who does it once told me he sands up to grain 240 and then finishis off by hand with grain 1000
 
I get very good results by taking to 400 grit hand rub and then using 400 grit greasless compound on a loose muslin buff running at 1725 rpm. This is a trick that I learned form Jerry Hossum.

Jerry
 
Thanks all for the advise - much appreciated.

Bladsmith - I checked and they are marked 400 adn 1200 - but have never tried them. Think they have to be used wet and I haven't figured out how to do that!!

Mike Hull - I found I have a fine scotchbrite that I didn't know was there - I will try that.

Mike
 
Mike Mossington said:
Thanks all for the advise - much appreciated.

Bladsmith - I checked and they are marked 400 adn 1200 - but have never tried them. Think they have to be used wet and I haven't figured out how to do that!!

Mike Hull - I found I have a fine scotchbrite that I didn't know was there - I will try that.

Mike
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Before you use cork belts, they must be prepared properly. That just entails putting a piece of blade stock against one and pushing on it like you were profiling the blade. You have to do this for 10 minutes minimum. Wear protection as pieces will fly everywhere.

They will look a lot smoother when you are finished doing this and that's the way they're supposed to look. 10 minutes each should do it.

On the scotchbrite belt, just use it like you would abrasive belts when grinding bevels, etc. A pass or two is usually all that's needed to blend it all in.
I would do the flats with the SB on my vertical platen.

With coarser SB belts, it just means you can finish grinding at a coarser abrasive belt and still blend everything in. It's fine for working knives, but you don't want to do that with higher end jobs.

Good luck.:thumbup:
 
When doing a satin finish I usually take it to a 400grit cork belt using green compound. Then I hand sand with 400grit paper using Cool Tool II as a lubricant. I think Don Cowles gave me that tip, I find it really helps with getting an even finish quickly. As for which belt grits I use - 36 - 60 -120 - 400 Trizac (A45) - 400 cork. My cork belts are prep'd as per the above recommendation.

This is for a bolster to tip type satin finish. If I want a machined finish on the blade face I just stop at the 400grit cork belt and hand sand the flats of the knife.

Good luck.

How are you doing there Mike?

Sean
 
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