Thread: Mirror finish or bust!

I have been sanding these blades for some time now and am getting quite frustrated. I have been doing it by hand and can't help but wonder what the alternatives are, something cheap hopefully.

I found these buffing wheels ( Jeweler's Rouge & Buffing Wheels ) and was wondering if I could use them to finish the blades. The scratch lines are still pretty visible, what do you all think?

Also any other suggestions aside from the hand sanding would be greatly appreciated.

By the way I started with 180 then 220,320,400,600,1500.

Thanks

Michael

p.s. I used baby oil from 400 up

Forget jewelers rouge. It doesn't do squad. Get some white or green compound.
But it seems the scratches are still visble you say. Then you'll need black or SS compounds first and work your way up.
Hand sanding to a mirror polish is a lifetime nightmare and work involved if done by hand.
Make use of a buffer with the right compounds and as always safety first, even with the dremel!
It takes some learning, knowing what to use and how to polish. Your blade will get hot and you'll need to be very carefull not to detroy the temper.

Yes, be extremely careful of overheating the blade!


I recieved a EBay razor recently, and it would not take an edge, because the previous owner had at it with the dremel to make th erazor look nice for selling.

Now, complete garbage....

Dremels can harm as well as help.

When I buff usingh my dremel, I lay the razor down on top of some soaking wet paper towels to help with heat dissapation. Buffing creates alot of heat--FAST.

Originally Posted by Maximilian

Get some white or green compound.
But it seems the scratches are still visble you say. Then you'll need black or SS compounds first and work your way up.
.

what is ss compound and from where we can buy it?thank you

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

what is ss compound and from where we can buy it?thank you

SS compound is refered to as Stainless Steel compound. There's several places that sells them and Caswell comes to mind. These are FORMAX compounds and are very good.

Brownells - World's Largest Supplier of Firearm Accessories, Gun Parts and Gunsmithing Tools
Bob Brownell was one of America's finest gunsmiths and his catalog has perhaps the most complete selection of polishing materials anywhere.

So how hot would the blade have to get to loose the temper? If you lost the temper, could it be reset?

I'm definately taking notes here, thanks guys. I will start with the black and ss compounds. How about the two compounds that come with the buffing bits, I guess use as finishing. Also are those bits worth buying, I have a drill so it may be cheaper for me. Thanks again everyone! If anyone has any other ideas let me know!!

The dremel is attractive for using with sanding, so Max would the compounds you mentioned in conjunction with the buffing wheels completely take the place of sanding?

Originally Posted by raghur

So how hot would the blade have to get to loose the temper? If you lost the temper, could it be reset?

It would have to get pretty hot, but its a lot easier than you think. Hot to the touch and its time to stop. Yes, you could reharden the razor, but... that costs more money than its worth. Just don't do it in the first place.

@ Flampen

No. Polishing is for polishing, sanding is for sanding. Sanding gets out rust, pits, and other sanding lines. Polishing makes it shiny.

Originally Posted by flampen85

so Max would the compounds you mentioned in conjunction with the buffing wheels completely take the place of sanding?

No, they wont. In order to replace part of sanding you would need to use coarser compounds. The only compounds would be the greasless compounds that range frm 60 grit up to 600 grit. I've once seen 800 grit but can't recall where.

Also the grit size is not the equivalent of sandpaper. A 220 grit greaseless compound is more the equivalent of 400 grit hand sanding. But the 60 or 80 grit greaseless compound does an excellent job at replacing a coarser hand sanding.

The dryer compounds like the Black emery os SS ones are used after the higher grits. If you have hand sanded up to 400 -600 grit and it's properly done you can get away with black emery followed by SS compound, white and then green (at least the compounds I use), and work your way up. But 600-800 grit would be better.