Thread: mirror finish

what is the best way to create a mirror finish when restoring a blade?
I have seen the sandpaper/paddle with dremel technique. What do you all think? I worry about heating the blade and it breaking with a dremel.

Personally I only use the dremel for the initial heavy duty work - also taking care not to overheat the blade.

After this I go over to manual sanding (up to 1.8k - 2k). After that I go back to the dremel for a bit of extra polishing with the buffing wheel.

Although I've done the whole process only once so far, it seems to works well enough ...

THE best way is something we can all debate. No matter what you use, a good, consistent mirror finish takes patience and tons of practice. I use nothing but a buffing wheel and a large assortment of compounds, but getting a good mirror finish can still be difficult. There are two principle stages in polishing, each with different approaches that can be mixed and matched.

Low Grit (rough work, about 0-1000 grit)

• Hand sanding
• Dremel Sanding
• Belt Sander (usually used in conjunction with others)
• Greaseless Compounds

High Grit (1500 grit and up)

• 3m Micromesh film
• Buffing Compounds
• Hand Polishing with MAAS or equivalent (elbow grease)
• Vibratory Tumbler

Please, if anyone thinks I missed something, chime in.

Be careful with the dremel, overheating the blade and uneven sanding should both be concerns with rotary tools.

I've done a couple blades and I personally prefer to use a home made sanding block and some sand paper. You can either sand up to 2k grit paper then go into polish or you can sand up to 800 grit paper then buff if you have all the necessary buffing compounds and wheels (black, white, red, blue, and green if the blade is SS).

If you use buffing stages you will want to be careful, buffing with a dremel can heat the blade fast and buffing with a buffer can grab the blade and throw it across your workshop if not careful.

I'm sure one of our site pros will eventually chime in with some good tips as well. I know some of em use tumblers but I don't know the details on those as I don't own one.

If you are using a Dremel, there are 2 things you need to get to make it both safer for you, and safer for the blade.

Dremel Workstation
Dremel Flex Shaft Attachment

Those 2 attachments will make using a Dremel much better suited for use as a razor restore tool.