Thread: The Black Polish

Thought this was cool. Copied it out of an old knife magazine. I'm guessing razors got this treatment too ?

" The Sheffielders called it the "Black Polish", a polish so gleaming, so bright that it appeared black at certain angles - and it was one of the finest polishes the world of cutlery has ever seen.
It came from slow moving wooden wheels with a lead surface and finishing compounds that included ashes mixed with beeswax. With the development of health standards in the workplace fewer factories would take time (or submit their workers to the risk) of producing the beautiful black polish."

The rest of the article mentions a Solingen cutlery factory that did the same polish up till 1956 when it closed. Bruckman was their name.

Would be something to see.

Very intersting! There is a brief mention of it here, too - on the 2nd page. It mentions "iron oxide" which I take to mean a very finely divided rouge which used to be called "crocus" - see this page for details - used for obtaining a mirror-finish.

I can understand the lead lining - soft compared to steel. Crocus is still available, but as it is sold more as a pigment for ceramics it's purity/grit size is a bit questionable, although I suppose a good grind with a mortar and pestle, slaking in water to remove the larger bits and evaporation would produce something usable.

Regards,
Neil

that is fine reading makes you like how easy it is to get a blade now.

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Very intersting! There is a brief mention of it here, too - on the 2nd page. It mentions "iron oxide" which I take to mean a very finely divided rouge which used to be called "crocus" - see this page for details - used for obtaining a mirror-finish.

I can understand the lead lining - soft compared to steel. Crocus is still available, but as it is sold more as a pigment for ceramics it's purity/grit size is a bit questionable, although I suppose a good grind with a mortar and pestle, slaking in water to remove the larger bits and evaporation would produce something usable.

Regards,
Neil

Thanks for the link. That's interesting about the rouge. You can get superfine jewellers rouge powder for polishing glass etc. Japanese swords are polished lastly with a paste called 'Nugui' which is mostly some form of iron oxide plus other ingredients. The blade steel is somewhat darkened by the process to a bluish or blackish hue. I imagine this may be similar to the 'Sheffield black polish' except it is done by hand & very tedious. The red oxide makes for the darker finish whilst magnetite produces a more subtle finish called 'Sashikomi'. I feel some experimentation coming up

Good luck Oz! That fellow in one of the links took seven years to perfect his black polish recipe...

Regards,
Neil

Very interesting indeed. I always thought that "iron" oxide was pretty unstable and would readily become a hydroxide (upon reaction with water). I found this link stating the chemical formulas of several iron oxides and their color. The application, in this case is different but I felt that I would share this information with you guys here:

Iron oxides in cosmetics

And I just found this one as well, man this is pretty interesting:

Iron oxide - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Al raz.

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Good luck Oz! That fellow in one of the links took seven years to perfect his black polish recipe...

Regards,
Neil

3" of razor will finish a lot quicker than 28" of katana ~ believe me, I have done the latter

Originally Posted by Alraz

Very interesting indeed. I always thought that "iron" oxide was pretty unstable and would readily become a hydroxide (upon reaction with water). I found this link stating the chemical formulas of several iron oxides and their color. The application, in this case is different but I felt that I would share this information with you guys here:

Iron oxides in cosmetics

And I just found this one as well, man this is pretty interesting:

Iron oxide - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Al raz.

Thanx Al but the oxide is traditionally mixed with Choji oil for sword polishing. I agree water sounds a bad idea