Thread: Advise from wises

Hi everyone,

I have a confusion about polishing/final polishing.

I was in workshop Friday where I will start my "stage"next year. Well started with cutting, painting stuffs and at the and "da master" asked​ me to polish a metal with using pink solid paste and a buffing machine (750W) until I have a mirror polish. Usually when I polish my blades I don't press on them to not hear them up so fast, so I started to do what's asked. Ten or fifteen minutes later, he came to see my work while i was on.

And he told me to press on it to have a very final polish. Well did it but there was still few scratches on the metal.

Now I ask myself, need more pressure on steels to have a better result? Or just to be gentle and work on it with patience?

My 2 Cents, No Pressure Let The Buffer Do The Work But I,m Not Familiar With Pink Paste,, Ty

What kind of stage are you talking about? How far away are people going to be viewing it. Does it make a difference if the metal looses it's temper if it had any to begin with.

You do what you need to to get the results that you need......

Originally Posted by Addison

My 2 Cents, No Pressure Let The Buffer Do The Work But I,m Not Familiar With Pink Paste,, Ty

Actually that's what I think about too. The pink one is the last which we use for metals (not steel).

Originally Posted by 32t

What kind of stage are you talking about? How far away are people going to be viewing it. Does it make a difference if the metal looses it's temper if it had any to begin with.

You do what you need to to get the results that you need......

That's a stage to have my licence for cutlery, the workshop I mentioned is not a cutlery, I don't know the English translate of it, but they are working mostly on articles like biblos(I'm not sure if this word exists in English, as I'm on phone with low battery, I can't look the translation) the small statues of Sainte Marie...

I'll go to see some other workshops too before start to work.

When I have polished anything really it's usually at a "high" speed and light pressure letting the machine and polish do its job. I put quotes around high because it's not always super high speeds to bring a nice polish.
I too don't know about the pink polish but as with anything you must know your tool and learn it.
My guess is, If you still have scratches maybe you did not get your previous grit scratches out before advancing. Much like going to 8k hone before 1k stria is removed. Best of luck please let us know what you find out

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Your finish depends on the material, the finish you are starting with, (how smooth it is) the wheel you are using, cotton, sisal, sewn or loose. Sanding will save you a lot of time on the buffer.

Generally, you want to use a low grit compound and work up to finer compounds, beginning with pressure and going lighter, on pressure as the grit gets finer and the finish brighter. Much like honing.

There are cutting strokes and polishing strokes. Pull the blade to you with the wheel turning into the steel, to cut, and push into the wheel, going in the direction of the wheel rotation, to polish and take a lighter cut. You do need pressure, but not so much pressure that you are deforming a sewn wheel.

Keeping the wheel clean, (rake) and with greased compound, add small amounts of compound frequently, once it loads (wheel turns black) or stops cutting or polishing. Final polish with a loose wheel.

Keep the material cool with a tin or bucket of water.

A pink compound is probably a blend of Ferrous Oxide and Aluminum Oxide and more of a finishing compound.

There are cutting strokes and polishing strokes. A good basic resource is the Castwell’s Plating, (Castwell introduction to buffing and polishing).

Originally Posted by Oustoura

Actually that's what I think about too. The pink one is the last which we use for metals (not steel).



That's a stage to have my licence for cutlery, the workshop I mentioned is not a cutlery, I don't know the English translate of it, but they are working mostly on articles like biblos(I'm not sure if this word exists in English, as I'm on phone with low battery, I can't look the translation) the small statues of Sainte Marie...

I'll go to see some other workshops too before start to work.

This is why I had to ask to clarify. When you mentioned cutting, painting, then polishing for your stage my first vision was that you were an aspiring actor......

Just to add the info; On that day I worked on brass and some other soft metals (not steel).

The red or pink is likely rouge. The finest of compounds.
Would take a long time to take anything out on steel.
Best to begin with something else. Here, we have black, gray, green, and then red for steel.
The brown is usually for aluminium and brass/bronze. White compounds here are usually for plastics or whatever.
Red rouge would take a long while?

I would bet the pink stuff is what we call rubbing compound in the US. It will polish up nonferrous metals pretty well.

For blades (knife, razor, etc.) you want to use high speed and low pressure to keep the metal cool. If the metal gets hot, then the temper will be lost.

For non tempered metals (brass, aluminum, copper, etc.) you can use more pressure without damaging the metal. Some people will just use one paste
with these metals and control the finish by the amount of pressure that they put on the buffer. It works. I prefer to use multiple pastes, high speed, and
low pressure because the more pressure you put on the buffer, the more likely it is to yank the metal out of your hand.