How to polish your knife

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Gjackson98

Gjackson98

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Hi ppl.
I need some advice on how to correctly polish a mirror finish knife.
I have tried using lower to higher grit sand paper, and that ****ed up one of them :)
I really need some help here!
Thank you all!
 
Mirror polishing is essentially a process of removing ALL of the scratches from the preious grit with progressively finer scratches (finer grit). You generally need to have jumps of 1.2x to 2x the previous grit. Did I mention that you need to remove ALL of the scratches? Depending on where you start, and the abrasion resistance of the steel, it can take many hours.

Are you trying to polish scratches out of a mirror finish, polish a patina off a mirror finished blade or turn a non mirror finish into a mirror finish?
 
Nemo said:
Mirror polishing is essentially a process of removing ALL of the scratches from the preious grit with progressively finer scratches (finer grit). You generally need to have jumps of 1.2x to 2x the previous grit. Did I mention that you need to remove ALL of the scratches? Depending on where you start, and the abrasion resistance of the steel, it can take many hours.

Are you trying to polish scratches out of a mirror finish, polish a patina off a mirror finished blade or turn a non mirror finish into a mirror finish?
Click to expand...

The situation I am trying to work out right now, is a new knife, semi mirror finish, it got some milky like things on there that I couldn’t remove. So I am trying to clean it off but not damaging the original surface. Thank you for the input!
 
Which knife? Got photos?

Is it carbon? Is it a patina? Did the knife come with a protective coating that needs to be removed with acetone?
 
Nick wheeler has a couple good youtube videos on hand sanding. Even if you don't want to take the knife down to such a low grit they show how to do it safely and get a great finish
 
You could try using a fine polish like Mother's (make sure you wash it off thouroughly afterwards). Mothers is supposed to be a fairly uniform 0.5 micron AlOx grit. But you can accidentally overpolish it if you go really hard. Then you may have patches of mirror polish. Or you could try to guess which grit sandpaper will match your blade finish.
 
Nemo said:
You could try using a fine polish like Mother's (make sure you wash it off thouroughly afterwards). Mothers is supposed to be a fairly uniform 0.5 micron AlOx grit. But you can accidentally overpolish it if you go really hard. Then you may have patches of mirror polish. Or you could try to guess which grit sandpaper will match your blade finish.
Click to expand...

gotcha, I am not good at guessing.. I might just try the stuff you recommended on a practice knife first to compare the grit
 
Gjackson98 said:
gotcha, I am not good at guessing.. I might just try the stuff you recommended on a practice knife first to compare the grit
Click to expand...
Without seeing pictures, it's really hard to make a recomendation of how to handle your knife's marks.

Pictures will probably get you a more useful answer.

FWIW, Mothers Mag Polish is available in Auto stores in Aus, I assume it is in USA as well. Costs maybe 15 bucks. It smells petroleumey, so I carefully wipe off thouroughly then wash with lots of detergent and hot water a couple of times after use. You don't need much- maybe a pea sized blob for a whole knife (2 sides).

There are similar products such as Simichrome, Flitz and Autosol which I have read about but never used, so can't really give pros or cons.

There are also propietary knife rust polishes available which may also do the job but I don't know what grit they are. Mine is Kanetsune branded.

Not sure if a fine rust eraser might be worth looking into? Anyone know what grit they are?

Edit: If its a new knife, could you discuss it with the vendor before taking to it with abrasives?
 
Nemo said:
Without seeing pictures, it's really hard to make a recomendation of how to handle your knife's marks.

Pictures will probably get you a more useful answer.

FWIW, Mothers Mag Polish is available in Auto stores in Aus, I assume it is in USA as well. Costs maybe 15 bucks. It smells petroleumey, so I carefully wipe off thouroughly then wash with lots of detergent and hot water a couple of times after use. You don't need much- maybe a pea sized blob for a whole knife (2 sides).

There are similar products such as Simichrome, Flitz and Autosol which I have read about but never used, so can't really give pros or cons.

There are also propietary knife rust polishes available which may also do the job but I don't know what grit they are. Mine is Kanetsune branded.

Not sure if a fine rust eraser might be worth looking into? Anyone know what grit they are?

Edit: If its a new knife, could you discuss it with the vendor before taking to it with abrasives?
Click to expand...

I will try to take some pictures once I get home!
 
IMG_7932.jpg
 
It's hard to see what is going on there. Not sure if it's coarse grind marks or something else.

Can you get a close up of the marks?

Where did you get the knife from, if it's not too impolite to ask?
 
Nemo said:
It's hard to see what is going on there. Not sure if it's coarse grind marks or something else.

Can you get a close up of the marks?

Where did you get the knife from, if it's not too impolite to ask?
Click to expand...

IMG_7922.jpg


This is about the best I can get for a picture. The problem can likely caused by something stupid I did, and I don’t want to mentioned names here.

I probably should just take it with me next time when I go to LA and ask Jon to look at it.
 
It's hard to tell what's going on there... is that patina, scratches?...
Might be a goofy question, but... Did you take the lacquer off?
Also, the finish on KS goes from spine to edge. So, any abrasive you use, you'll have to go in that direction too (which is a PITA by hand).
I say just hit it with flitz a few times and be done with it. It's a tool and so will its show use.
 
McMan said:
It's hard to tell what's going on there... is that patina, scratches?...
Might be a goofy question, but... Did you take the lacquer off?
Also, the finish on KS goes from spine to edge. So, any abrasive you use, you'll have to go in that direction too (which is a PITA by hand).
I say just hit it with flitz a few times and be done with it. It's a tool and so will its show use.
Click to expand...

Flitz on the way! Thank you
 
Sounds like some of the lacquer got smudged not removed during removal. So, there's probably still a very thin layer of lacquer left in places (which is why the acetone made things look worse not better--because it dragged the lacquer). If there's smudged lacquer left on the blade, this can make the patina look weird--or just make the blade look streaky.
Tackle it again with acetone a few times again.
 
Gjackson98 said:
View attachment 41587
Click to expand...
I don't know about anything else, don't have the time to read carefully all the responses so I apologize in advance but that knife is by no means semi-mirror polished, it's quite a ways away from that.
For strict mirror polishing you need to hand sand (nick Wheeler has the best tutorials).
 
McMan said:
Sounds like some of the lacquer got smudged not removed during removal. So, there's probably still a very thin layer of lacquer left in places (which is why the acetone made things look worse not better--because it dragged the lacquer). If there's smudged lacquer left on the blade, this can make the patina look weird--or just make the blade look streaky.
Tackle it again with acetone a few times again.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much! I will try again here and let you guys know on Wednesday how it goes!
 
Hand polishing with wet/dry sandpaper is a lot of work, but can be done.
Taking it to a pro knife sharpener with motorized ultra-fine sanders and leather belts is the best bet and faster... just my opinion.
But if you really want to get nerdy and learn a lot.... try it by hand. Perhaps practice on a cheaper knife you have..... then if/when confident, do it to your better knives.
 
Leifer said:
Hand polishing with wet/dry sandpaper is a lot of work, but can be done.
Taking it to a pro knife sharpener with motorized ultra-fine sanders and leather belts is the best bet and faster... just my opinion.
But if you really want to get nerdy and learn a lot.... try it by hand. Perhaps practice on a cheaper knife you have..... then if/when confident, do it to your better knives.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the advice! I have decided to put this knife on hold for now, I will get back to it after I get some more experience with polishing lol.
 
84135F68-9D54-451E-B8F2-D12591BF744A.jpeg
17EF844A-EEFA-4B66-9701-F6C73813698E.jpeg


I did this with wet/dry sandpaper, and a lot of work. I’m no professional, I was just determined. The knife ended up being sticky, s I ended up putting a scratch pattern back in it. The smudge on the tip in the upper pic is a reflection.
 
It's going to take a long while to that mirror like polish without some mechanical/electrical help. Lots of elbow grease and determination but its doable. But I agree with 5698k that food prep is not great since it does get stuck to it much easier.
 
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