Thread: MAAS or mothers mag polish???

Which of the two give the best mirror shine/polish to a straight razor??
These are the only polishes that I can currently get at local store today, so I need to decide.
Thanks!

If the surface is not sanded perfectly smooth neither will give a full mirror shine. There can be no visible scratches so you must use very fine grit wet dry sand paper and 000 or 0000 steel wool in preparation.

Originally Posted by Charliebrian24

Which of the two give the best mirror shine/polish to a straight razor??
These are the only polishes that I can currently get at local store today, so I need to decide.
Thanks!

Hello from SE Washington State!

I've used both and while others say that this one or that one is more abrasive I really can't see a difference! With that in mind the Mothers Mag and Aluminum Wheel Polish is much less expensive then the MASS and so that's what I use.

Keep in mind that it's only a 'Polish' and will only do so much.

With that said 'IF' you could provide pictures of the razor/razors in question of cleaning up that would help.

I Always try to start high then work lower if the need to use sandpapers/buffers etc arises.

OH! One last thing. Please don't buy into the 'It needs to have a Near Mirror Finish' BS I believe that you will find that a nice satin finish looks good especially if there are defects/pitting in the blade.

I hope this has been of some help.

As bouschie said and I really don't see a difference in how the two work. I do like the smell of Mother's better than Maas, but that is just me.

Sure. Her are some pictures. What do you think I should do?

I find Maas to be thicker/stiffer and harder to work.
Mothers on a paper towel works best for me.

Be advised that with what appears to be rust in your pix there is bound to be some pitting that will be too deep to just polish out. To obtain a mirror finish with that particular razor you have some sanding ahead of you.

Originally Posted by Highwayman

Be advised that with what appears to be rust in your pix there is bound to be some pitting that will be too deep to just polish out. To obtain a mirror finish with that particular razor you have some sanding ahead of you.

Yup and if you try to "polish" it you will accentuate those pits. You either can sand the crap out of it, literally, to remove all of the pitting or you can just remove the rust and sand it to a satin finish by wrapping sandpaper around a wine cork and running from spine to edge to replicate grinding marks. You can finish around 800 or 1000 grit sandpaper. You won't see your face in it but it will look a lot better than it looks now and will be a lot less work. You always can switch either way from mirror to satin if one way or the other does not work the way you wanted.

Okay, great. I'll pick up some wet/dry sandpaper as well. What grit should I start ya think? And after I'm done with the 1000, will all scratch marks be gone? Should I incorporate the 000-0000 steel wool?

Originally Posted by Charliebrian24

Okay, great. I'll pick up some wet/dry sandpaper as well. What grit should I start ya think? And after I'm done with the 1000, will all scratch marks be gone? Should I incorporate the 000-0000 steel wool?

Welcome to 'Wonderland'. As with Alice once you start down that rabbit hole you will find many strange things.

As has been pointed out, if you use just the Mothers or MASS there will still be pitting showing. However that's not always a bad thing. I think of it as leaving some of the 'character' or 'battle scars'.

Now once you start with an abrasive (sandpaper) then you have to decide how abrasive you want to be. After just the Mothers or Mass then 2K wet and dry would be my choice and then see how you like the finish. If there are still 'Unobjectionable Pitting' then you could go lower.

Keep in mind that once there are scratches from any lower grit sandpaper then they Must be removed by going back to the higher grits!

Personally I wouldn't mind owning that razor with just having used the Mothers or MASS on it.

As you will find with 99.99% of EVERYTHING about straight razors is 'Personal Preference'.

As I said, please don't get caught up in the 'near mirror finish' for every razor BS. As Every Razor doesn't need it nor did it have it from when it was manufactured!