Mirror polishing and file work.

[jmar595]

I am going to do a build a long on my first experience making a knife. I am trying to polish the blade and tried several times last night. i would get it down to polished and look and there would be scratches. Can't seem to get them out. I am going 60, 220, 400, then wet 600, then polishing wheel, and back to 600 wet if need be, but can't get all the scratches out. Any advise?
 Also, i am doing some experimentingwith file work. Nice file work by the way, Tippit. Any pointers? And how do u get the black in between the figuring?

[Roy Stroh]

Get all of your scratches going in the same direction.  Most of the time people will buff across the direction that they draw filed or sanded.  That will show even the smallest of scratches.

[DarkeGreen]

If you can get them out it may be because it's the same scratch that runs deep in the metal. If that's the case you'll want to go with a grit that will remove them faster, then start your process of finer grits.

Most people that hand make knifes don't worry about it though. They get them all going the same direction so they don't show up as well and leave them in the blade. The only way to truly remove them is to take all the metal off that's higher than the lowest or deepest part of the scratch.

[jmar595]

Yeah, I am goin in the same direction, I was going in circles on the first few tries then I found going the same direction helps. I go from 60, to 220, to 400, wet 600, polish then wet 600 again if need be. The blade is mostly mirror polished, just small scratched left when u turn the blade right. I will mess with it more tonight.

[Roy Stroh]

60 to 220 is a big jump.  I would suggest atleast throwing a 100 or 150 inbetween that if not both.

[Fritz Brown]

Change directions every time you change grits.  You will see the scratches from the previous grit of cloth as scratches perpendicular to the direction you are working.  Dont go to a finer grit until you have completely removed the scratches from the previous grit. Also, the bigger the jump in the emory cloth grit (ie your jump from 60 to 220), the more work it will be to polish out the scratches from the previous grit.

-Fritz

[LAR43]

Fritz said it!!! Don't go finer until everything is removed from the previous grit. Changing direction helps to ID scratches from the previous grit. Finish up in one direction only, usually ricasso to tip, with the finest grit.
JMO but I'd put a 1 something grit between the 60 & the 220.

Larry

[jdupre]

I gave up on mirror polishing blades for the most part because of the work it takes to do it right. One other reason is that if you are actually going to be using the knife, that mirror polish will scratched fairly soon with normal use. But,Fritz has got the procedure down very well. It's not a stretch to allow about a quarter to a third of the time involved in building a knife to mirror polishing.