Effective method to remove patina/stain on mirror polish yanagi?

[leeskeeee]

Hi All,
So I work with Yanagi often mostly in blue 1 and 2 and I always clean the ura and hira with 2000 - 5000 grit sandpaper before sharpening to remove patina or staining. If rust occurs, I would use a sabitori eraser first. I also would mop up the slurry from my jnats and use that to clean off patina. This works great for my migaki finished knives.
I have mirror polished (hira) honyaki yanagi that I use with lots of precaution to not allow patina or stains to develop. This is quite cumbersome as it would mostly sit in my bag and I would reach for something else for my shift. I have only tried buffing the mirror polish with polishing paste and microfiber cloth to get rid of stains and patina before sharpening. Does anyone have a suggestion for removing patina or stains (not rust) from mirror polish hira on yanagi before sharpening without scratching or ruining the mirror finish? I would imagine sandpaper would be a no-no and the jnat slurry might dull the mirror finish or streak it?
Thank you for any insight!

 

[gentiscid]

Flitz/Simichrome?

 

[Juna]

Would the non abrasive BKF spray work? Or flitz as mentioned above?

 

[ReiHamono]

Felt pad and diamond powder ~8k, use water saturated with baking soda

5k-12k works really well, ~3k for heavier work

Flitz will scratch and can leave a patina, let’s move beyond Flitz for polishing.

Diamond does everything better

 

[jedy617]

Hmm I always remove patina on my mirror polished knives with flitz...

 

[1315]

Interesting, the Gritomatic chart lists Simichrome at about 1600 grit, and Flitz about 4000 (using Shapton ratings)

https://www.gritomatic.com/pages/grit-chart
With all the jewelry polishes out there, isn't there a watery, no-grit product for us? (The spray bkf is liquid, but isnt my favorite. )

 

[JBroida]

Felt pad and diamond powder ~8k, use water saturated with baking soda

5k-12k works really well, ~3k for heavier work

Flitz will scratch and can leave a patina, let’s move beyond Flitz for polishing.

Diamond does everything better

been using flitz and simichrome for many years now... no scratching or patina. BKF will do that for sure, but flitz, simichrome, and similar do not, and work quite well for cleaning up mirror polished blades.

If you need to actually do some material removal, then abrasives (diamond or otherwise) work better.

 

[ReiHamono]

That would explain it then, those are a larger particle size, although I think they’re desirable and probably perform best used with machine if the particles break down over time into smaller pieces and might be much better in that application as far as speed is concerned?

Diamond can be used for heavy lifting or ultra refinement depending on the um chosen.

I prefer the fact that it cuts so fast clean and consistent as well as the lack of chemicals is a plus. Another great thing is that diamond never stops cutting.

When working by hand these are all the qualities that are desired as we want the polish done fast and clean at the finest grit possible when working with an ultra fine mirror finish.

I use only natural stones now, but that’s a different discussion as the difficulty is in the application where diamond is incredibly easy to learn to use.

Interesting, the Gritomatic chart lists Simichrome at about 1600 grit, and Flitz about 4000 (using Shapton ratings)

https://www.gritomatic.com/pages/grit-chart
With all the jewelry polishes out there, isn't there a watery, no-grit product for us? (The spray bkf is liquid, but isnt my favorite. )

 

[KasumiJLA]

As a mirror fan here, I use Koyo polishing paste (the blue one). It does a nice job of removing light patina. When there is a lot more patina I like to use 14k diamond paste. Just the right amount of abrasions and no visible scratches.

I have never used flitz but I have heard good things about this product. I should try it someday

 

[ModRQC]

I've used Mother's since it's what I bought back in the days - for knives. But in other purposes I've used different iterations all my life. All those metal polish are especially devised to revive an original shine, so while they all tend to work along the same lines, they're most particularly effective when you get to know them better - brand's directions not always the best methodology IME. I'm not saying one might not be better than another in specific uses, but I'm fairly sure most of them get the job done well enough when used optimally.

Then again I hate mirror polishes on knives, so maybe I am dead wrong.

 

[leeskeeee]

been using flitz and simichrome for many years now... no scratching or patina. BKF will do that for sure, but flitz, simichrome, and similar do not, and work quite well for cleaning up mirror polished blades.

If you need to actually do some material removal, then abrasives (diamond or otherwise) work better.

When applying, do you use cloth or cotton pad or some other medium? And do you do long strokes or small circular motions?

 

[leeskeeee]

As a mirror fan here, I use Koyo polishing paste (the blue one). It does a nice job of removing light patina. When there is a lot more patina I like to use 14k diamond paste. Just the right amount of abrasions and no visible scratches.

I have never used flitz but I have heard good things about this product. I should try it someday

When applying Koyo, do you use cloth or cotton pad or some other medium? And do you do long strokes or small circular motions?

 

[KasumiJLA]

When applying Koyo, do you use cloth or cotton pad or some other medium? And do you do long strokes or small circular motions?

I always use cotton pad but a soft fabric can do the trick too. I apply small pressure with a circular motion.

 

[JBroida]

When applying, do you use cloth or cotton pad or some other medium? And do you do long strokes or small circular motions?

cotton pads... a little bit of both in terms of motion... no visible scratches from it so it doesn't really matter as much

 

[cotedupy]

I rate micromesh quite highly for this kind of thing.

A bit of damp newspaper can work well too. There's good reason why people use newspaper for polishing / cleaning glass and mirrors.

 

[leeskeeee]

I rate micromesh quite highly for this kind of thing.

A bit of damp newspaper can work well too. There's good reason why people use newspaper for polishing / cleaning glass and mirrors.

Heard newspaper is very common for deburring but never thought to dampen it for polishing..

 

[leeskeeee]

cotton pads... a little bit of both in terms of motion... no visible scratches from it so it doesn't really matter as much

I always use cotton pad but a soft fabric can do the trick too. I apply small pressure with a circular motion.

Thanks! Silly question but when cotton pads are recommended for polishing and in this application, is it referring to cotton rounds (the ones you buy in a large pack that people use for make up or nail polish removal)? Or another type of "cotton pad"?

 

[KasumiJLA]

Thanks! Silly question but when cotton pads are recommended for polishing and in this application, is it referring to cotton rounds (the ones you buy in a large pack that people use for make up or nail polish removal)? Or another type of "cotton pad"?

I use the cheapest one I can find at my drugstore. One pack is 125 cotton pads and I pay around 1,50$CAD for them. You can use them for a lot of purpose but yeah, It is mainly used for removing makeup and nail polish.

 

[M1k3]

If you have a Daiso around, they carry cotton makeup pads for cheap. And they don't fall apart easily.

 

[JBroida]

Thanks! Silly question but when cotton pads are recommended for polishing and in this application, is it referring to cotton rounds (the ones you buy in a large pack that people use for make up or nail polish removal)? Or another type of "cotton pad"?

funny that the comment below the above message said he went for the cheapest cotton pads... i tried that, but they fall apart too quickly. I went for nicer ones... currently use delon+ from amazon.

 

[The Forest Ninja]

I'm using a Lyoto Natural whetstone now to remove a slight patina I created with a lemon recently.
Won't be hard cleaning any scratchmarks with finer whetstones afterward.