Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades Best way to take a mirror finish blade down to a hand rubbed satin finish?

This knife I completed came with a highly polished mirror finish. I'm really considering keeping it as a user (till I build a better one later on ) and I think taking that mirror shine down to a nice hand rubbed satin finish would be much better on a user. Mirror blades sure are purdy :), but they lose their appeal as soon as the first scratches start to appear.

Also, coupled with the dymondwood handle, the bright mirror blade kind of mimicks some of the cheap flea market blades I have seen in years past...(which I did not think about at first). I don't want my knife to have that "cheap" look, and I think taking the time to put a rubbed satin finish would make it look like a higher quality blade and not something from the flea market.

What do you guys think? And what would be the best way to go about transforming that mirror into satin? I would think start back with maybe 600 with a hand block and go in 1 direction, ricasso to tip till even scratches are on the blade then switch to 800 and be done.

The 600 and 800 grits should get the job done.

As far as mirror polish, you have not seen a mirror polish until you go over the blade throughly with green chrome rouge.

Done right with green rouge, it will not have a 'cheap' look.

However, if you go this route, using the rouge and cloth wheels, you need to dull the blade throughly before you start. DO NOT ever buff a sharp blade.

That way, with a dull blade, when the buffer grabs the blade, it will only cut your fingers and hands about half off, instead of all the way off if the blade was sharp.

On blades like yours, I use wood screws and fasten the blade to a block of wood about 2 inches wide and 3/4 inch thick and 10 inches long. This block of wood gives you something to hold onto while you are buffing. Buff one side, then remove screws, turn blade over and re-fasten then buff this side.

Do this before installing the handles. Use the holes in the tang to attach the blade to the wood block.

Someone mentioned on another thread about how durable the blade would be if dropped point first on a rock.

Well, try buffing by just holding the blade and you will soon find out how strong the steel is when the buffer grabs it and slings it against the concrete floor and off two or three walls and the ceiling.

That is one of the reasons that I know for sure that 154 CM makes a very strong and durable blade. They will also withstand being thrown by the buffer and hitting point first on the concrete, making a chip in the floor, bouncing off and hitting a wall, then bouncing again and hitting the concrete floor flat ways, and maybe then going through a window.

If this does not break or dull the blade, then you can rest assured that you have a pretty good piece of steel.

There are very good reasons why I know this.

Craig, I finished one of my blades by dragging 400 grit paper across the blade but this was before adding a handle. I can't imagine a way to make the finish run flush to the handle if it is already assembled. I used a paint stir stick to keep the paper flat against the steel, dragging in even strokes from the hilt to the point. I like the finish and it has held up very well in the field. But any new scratch not in line with the sanding lines is fairly obvious. I added the finish after scratching the blade during handling prior to the slab assembly.

You probably won't like this suggestion but... you could strip the handles off your pretty new knife, clean it up, and start over - told you, you wouldn't like the suggestion. Best off to just get a new blade and make another.

Several years ago, I read an article about how to satin finish a blade. I will try to remember how the article said to do it.

This was a hollow ground blade in the article. First, the maker cut a 3/4 inch thick by about a 1 or 2 inch width stick with curve in the end of it. The curvature was just the opposite (convex) shape of the concave hollow grind.

He wrapped a piece of abrasive paper around the curved end of the stick and made one pass from one end of the blade to the other. I don't remember the starting grit, but I think it was about 400 grit Silicon Carbide wet or dry, lubricated with mineral oil. He made one pass, then replaced the paper and made another pass. He never made two passes with the same piece of abrasive. He used a new, sharp piece each time. He made one pass in one direction only. He did not go back and forth.

That put a satin finish on the hollow grind. For the flat areas, he did it the same way, except using a flat stick for these areas, and still using a new, sharp piece of abrasive for each pass, going in one direction only.

I have never done this, so I don't know what would be the best grits to use. I think I would start with 400 and continue until I got a nice, even, and straight line of grit marks or scratches.

If I wanted it finer, then I would go to 600, then on to 800 grit. After each grit, this maker sanded the previous, courser grit marks out of the blade. When he finished, the knife was satin polished with the finest grit used, with no courser grit scratches under the fine grit scratches, or a combination of course and fine scratches.

For a flat ground blade, you would just use a flat stick. I can't tell for sure, but it looks like from the pictures shown, that Gene Ingram finishes his blades using a similiar method.

You might contact him for some information of the grit sizes.

I do know that you do not start off with a blade ground with course grind marks in it. You put an even, scratch free mirror polish on the blade first, then satin finish the mirror polish.

You mirror polish the blade to make sure you have removed all the scratches made while grinding the blade.

3M Abrasives makes some fine products.