Dana,

A mirror good morror finish is a skill in itself. I hand sand and dont buff much anyway, but from what I have read and heard from guys who have done it, it's the rare maker who can do it justice. Someone will speak up and help or direct you to where you can get some pointers.

Thanks Lin, I'll keep trying different things

Dana

Hi Dana,

I have not tried mirror finishing a blade enough to be an expert on it. Getting a mirror finish on a flat ground blade can be a bit labor intensive; at least any way that I have tried it. I recently finished a blade by working up through 2000g silicon carbide paper and then using 3M polishing papers in 9 micron and 3micron. The finish was pretty good, but you could still see some 2000g marks. I think you would need to go finer than 2000g before the polishing paper to get a true mirror finish.

I'm not sure of a good way to do it mechanically. Almost certainly there is a way to do it with a buffer, using the correct type of wheels and the correct combination of buffing compounds. But, buffing a flat surface with round wheels presents some challenges. Mike Williams mentions in another post in this Forum that he uses custom made leather belts and polishing compounds to get a near mirror finish on his blades. I have also talked to makers who use the cork belts with silicon carbide abrasive on their blades. I bought some of these cork belts, but have not mastered the technique to get a mirror finish.........

One maker that I know of who can get a high finish on his blades is Alex Daniels. I attended a demo that Alex put on a couple of years ago, where he talked about his blade polishing process. I emailed Alex to ask him what his process was. I remember that Alex said that he used "Sham Wow" as the shammy for the polishing compounds. The Clover lapping compounds are made by Loctite. They come in 1 pound containers and are a bit pricey. Below is Alex's response.

The most important part is where you start, I start with 400A grit paper and then 600A grit Norton T414 paper. Then use 600grit, 800 grit Clover lapping compound on 0000 steel wool, then 1000 grit on shammy. I normally stop at 800 grit unless you really want a mirror finish.

Thanks Steve, Ive thought of a leather belt, but i have not bought one yet. When i get back in the shop, i plan on trying different things on a few blades. hope i come up with something and will let every one know

Thanks for your time

Dana

Dana,

2000 grit should be more than adequate to start the buffing process. It can be done with more aggressive compound and heavier grit paper but the grind lines tend to wash out whenever I try to cheat my process.

The questions that I would have for you would be... what type of buffing wheel are you using? And, are you using a different wheel for each compound? From my experience, sanding to 2000 grit and buffing with green chrome compound on a sewn wheel will get you really close to your desired results. Another tip I would suggest is... don't be shy with your compound and make sure your blade is "warming up" from the buffing action. If the compound is just dusting off of the blade and not melting and smearing around it's probably not buffing out the 2000 grit scratches.

After I've removed the 2000 grit scratches with the sewn wheel and green compound I switch to a loose wheel with pink greasless compound. Don't forget to clean off all of the green compound from your blade before you start with your next compound or it will pollute your wheel and leave scratches from the previous compound. Inevitably I find an area that needs more work with sand paper somewhere in the process. Don't fool yourself into thinking that you can remove heavier grit scratches with the buffer. You might wash them out somewhat but they will simple become polished scratches that will be obvious.

Another tip that comes to mind is, fluorescent lights are a buffer's best friend. For some reason I can find all of the areas that still need work under a fluorescent light... Halogen lights are a close second for me. Under both lighting conditions I use 3 power reading glasses or an optivisor to make sure that I get all of the scratches.

Hope that helps.

Rick

Thanks Rick for the reply.

I use a sewn wheel that I bought from jantz for 30.00, but I still get the same thing. now with that said I do not use different wheel, I have one for the blades and one for the handles. I use the green compound and black and white for the final. then I hand polish the blade. I'm just a little picky about scratches. I do use a wheel cleaner before I use another compound, but may not get it very clean.

Thanks for the help

Dana

You're welcome Dana. i just hope my suggestions end up helping you out.

In my experience, a wheel rake will only brake up the hardened buffing compound. Basically, if you can still see black or green on your wheel there is still microscopic black or green abrasive in your wheel. With that said, you've already probably gathered that you should have a different wheel for each of your three compounds...

One of the things that I think may be causing you problems is that (as far as I know) Black compound is more agressive than green or white. Double check that with your supplier. if I'm right, you need to start with the

black using the sewn wheel that you already have then with a new sewn wheel dedicated to the green compound buff

out the black scratches. This should leave you with a very close to mirror finish... maybe just cloudy looking. Again, clean the blade of all black compound before you use the green wheel or you'll

end up with black compound mixed in with your green compound which will give you fits trying to eliminate the black compound

scratch pattern. Then with a new loose wheel that is dedicated to your white compound, buff out the green compound

scratches. Again, clean the green compound off of your blade before you buff with the white compound wheel.

The only other thing that I can suggest in my less than perfect experience is that you should store your buffing wheels in a ziplock bag or in some other way that will prevent them from being contaminated with airborn dust/grit or each other. Don't ask how I learned this cost saving tip, let's just say I made an expensive mistake many years ago and it could have been prevented if I'd just purchased some freezer bags that a buffing wheel would fit in.

Again, double check the agressiveness of each of your compounds and work from most agressive to least whichever is which.

Hope that helps.

Thanks Rick for the advice,