Thread: Clouding with Micro Mesh?

I haven't used up to 2500 sandpaper, but I have used micromesh and have done buffing and such.

From my experience, I don't think you can get a mirror finish at 2500. I say that based not on sandpaper, but honing. Different, I know, but even hones well above 2500 don't give a mirror finish. Same goes for fine steel wool, micromesh, buffing compounds, etc. I've seen paper towels scratch mirror finished blades.

Also from my experience, if you take something "finished" off a lower grit and then jump to a way higher grit, you will only polish the peaks left behind from the lower grit, not the valleys. This makes the previous scratch pattern more apparent, rather than less apparent. (I have a very distinct memory from a meet years ago, when JoeD was showing Don a method of polishing using oak tag, mineral oil, and lapping compound. Don was completely absorbed in polishing a brand new Livi, only to find that it was looking "worse." He was polishing off the peaks and not getting into the valleys. After all present took a look at the blade and the effect Don created, Don sent the blade out to Lynn and the buffers to get a real mirror finish put onto the blade.)