To what gritt do you finish your guards, bolsters etc?

[Hengelo_77]

I´m working on a few hidden tang knives at the moment.
And I wonder toi what gritt do you finish the front of the guards?
I have a steel one finished to 600 but took a brass one up to 2000 and a bronce one up to 1200.
What do you prefer, and why?

 

[Jason Fry]

I do either 600 or mirror, not much in between. If you go satin, make sure you finish it nicely, i.e. all grinding marks gone and all sanding marks in the same direction. If you go mirror, on softer guard stock I've done OK going up to 1000 grit and buffing with green compound. Either way can look good, depending on what the whole blade/guard/handle combo looks like.

 

[jdm61]

Typically 400-600. Like Jason says, you can go to "mirror" fairly easily with that as a starting point if the guard material is not hardened. Those same materials get a very nice hand rubbed or satin finish at 400 to 600.

 

[Robert Dark]

Typically, 600 on the front of the guards. Like above, make sure the scratch lines are truly 600 (or whatever) and in a straight line. I have found that anything finer than 600 is asking for erroneous scratch problems when trying to clean the ricasso area, especially with guards of 416, Brass, or anything less than hardened material.

Robert