Thread: satin / mirror finish on blade

All my razors have some small hairline scratches after I honed them on the 8K Norton and the coticule How can I remove these scratches to match the original satin / mirror finish ? Thanks for your advice.
Tom Tong

If they are truly hairline you can try a cape cod polishing cloth or you can try using a dremmel with the proper rouge but if you do use the dremmel be careful. One slight slip and its good bye razor. If you want to put the satin finish back on the blade they sell polishing blocks for watch polishing that will accomplish that. They can be found on the Timezone.com site in the tool shop or by going to the website of Frei and Borel.

I have a spinning tool like dremmel running at 20,000 rmp and 0.50 micron diamond paste and 1.9 micron black diamond from Hands American. Do I need other abrassive compound? Must I get a dremmel to do the job? Thanks
Tom Tong

I think that the diamond paste you have is designed for sharpening not polishing. You need some rouge which is very fine and designed specifically for polishing. Your tool will do, though its kind of fast if its variable speed use a lower speed like 7.5K or so. just be careful not to heat up your blade too much and use either a felt wheel for polishing or a muslin buff. Make sure you use good eye protection just in case.

Hi Thebigspendur,

I have checked out Frie & Borel site and found that there are many types of rouge block, which one is to achieve satin finish and which one is to achieve mirror finish on a stainless steel blade? Any difference in use of rouge for a carbon steel blade?

The speed of my spinning tool is variable, so I will use lower speed as suggested by you. Thanks you very much.

Tom Tong

No matter which rouge you use, their function is to polish. Rouges will not put on a satin finish. If you want to replicate the grind marks left by the wheels used by razor makers, you can get radial bristle discs, or use some red scotchbrite from the hardware store.

Scotchbrite needs steady and straight "draws" that overlap one another as you traverse your way along the blade. It also takes a lot of them. It's not out of line to expect to make 400 or more passes. Make sure you have the cutting edge resting on a block of wood as you do it.

Radial bristle discs are at www.riogrande.com

The rouge blocks that Frei and Borel sell come in about 3 or 4 grades and usually are used on stainless steel watch cases. The coarser the block the more dull the finish it will leave. They are actually hard foam blocks impregnated with polishing compound and they work fantastically on watches. They should work the same on razors. You just have to use straight strokes on the metal in a uniform way to get good results. The finer blocks will give a more satin type finish while the coarse ones will give a more matt finish. None will polish metal ,they are designed to impart the specific finish.

I use them for watch cases and bracelets.

For a razor I would suggest either the fine or medium, probably the fine for a true satin finish.

What do I know? There I go using knife terms again instead of watch terms. In "knife" terms, a satin finish is not a low lustre finish, but rather, it resembles the strokes of a paint brush. Which, by the way, is also called a "brush" finish by some of the knife crowd. Myself included. That way no one thinks I'm talking about something else if I say "satin".

Since it takes me many hours to put a "satin" finish on my blades, maybe I could just get the name of that compound you use that puts one on. I could revolutionize the knife world. Thousands of knife makers would really like to get in on that trick... I'm pretty sure I have at least 6 compounds in different grits. Can't manage a satin finish out of any of them. Maybe it's my technique. I can, however, get a satin finish on small areas using radial bristle discs.

Maybe we both were projecting. You went from watches to razors and I went from knives to razors. The next guy probably is going to say satin is the finish with the soft sides.

To me, this is a true satin finish
http://www.billysblades.com/images/116-1669_IMG.JPG

I use cloth buffing wheels (from Home Depot) mounted on my drill press - I can get speeds from 300 rpm to 3000 rpm. The lower speeds make it easier to control the blade. You can get protective gloves that are cut-proof - they are covered in a hard rubber-like spiderweb.

Beware of high speeds, I've thrown a number of brass buttplates and triggerguards across the garage when they got caught by the wheel - you DON'T want a razor flying anywhere!

Tom

In watch terms the picture you have would be considered a brushed finish. I think the confusion is the different terms. In watches there's satin, brushed, matt, bead blasted in order of departure from polished. A satin finish would be a really muted finish but still closer to polished. And actually bead blasted depending on the diameter of the beads used can be duller than matt or more highly polished than matt. Clear as mud?