1. {Name}
    Welcome to the KKF!
    Please take a moment to register and stop by the New Member Check-In and say hello. We sincerely hope you enjoy your stay and the discussion of all things sharp.
    Feel free to jump right in on the conversation or make your own. We have an edge on life!
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Take a look at our new AUCTION SYSTEM

    This service is available to all KKFora members to both Bid on and Auction off (Sell)items.
    Dismiss Notice

Machine finish

Discussion in 'Shop Talk' started by Anton, Sep 25, 2015.

  1. Hey guys,

    I wanted to ask your advices regarding satin finish that can be done without manual polishing. I mean I wonder what's the best possible result that can be achieved on a grinder with belts? Any pictures?

    Here's one example picture of russian made kitchen knife that appears to have machined finish:
    [​IMG]

    I wonder if it's possible to make it better, and what belts to use for this task. Scotch-brite belts?
    Probably a pretty lame question, but I mostly want to know what's the best result than can be achieved with tools. From reading other makers threads I had a feeling that you shouldn't expect much from machine finish, as most custom makers seems to spend quite a bit time with hand polishing their works.
     
  2. You could go the route of the very high grit belts, like trizact, and then polish or buff to mirror. If that's what you want.
    The hand sanding is safer and easier to do without overheating your blade, you need ro run the high grit belts very slow and either keep wet or alway stay on the safe side of heat, as thin sections get hot amazingly fast with those high grit belts. And you really need to learn your movements to keep from messing up the grind, as on my current blades ;)

    I like scotchbrite, and go to it after a regular 400 or 600 belt.
     
  3. butch

    butch Founding Member

    wet A65 belt then scottbrite belt with black buffing compound is what i do and its great if it needs cleaned back up down the road hand sanding i think looks nice but if its a user i see little point
     
  4. Lefty

    Lefty Founding Member

    I honestly think Butch's machine finish is the nicest I've seen. I just had a conversation with @CrisAnderson27 about it, actually. Listen to Butch. Haha
     
  5. Butch has that stuff down for sure. I've used the scotch brite belts, though I never thought to load it with compound. Butch, which belt do you prefer to finish with? I have the medium and fine...need to pick up an ultra fine still. The medium is pretty freaking coarse in its own right.

    20150829_033527.jpeg

    This is the machine finish I was able to get with just the fine belt (maroon color), after the wet norax. Also note I was more 'blending' the very deep factory scratches, versus removing them and/or applying a completely new finish as I would with a new knife or a 100% refinish.
     
  6. butch

    butch Founding Member

    not sure what grit the belt its blueish grey tho ;) thts what i ask for when i go to supergrit
     
  7. Yep! I think that's the 'fine' one, if it's the supergrit brand. They only sell coarse, medium, and fine. If you get the 3m brand you can get up to ultra fine. I need to order a set of their own brand. It'd be awesome if it fell in between the 3m ones in effective grit. right now, the fine grit one won't remove the medium grit one's scratches.
     
  8. I have had some success with going from a 400grit belt on the grinder to a 600 grit/800/1200 grit rynowet sheet on a rubber backed variable speed disk grinder, then going to a green compound loaded ultra fine 3m scotchbrite belt. Gets it to mirrory goodness. I've done it on a couple of AEBL blades to cheat my way up to 1500grit hand polish but don't have any current blades in that steel ready to go. I'll see how it turns out on an RWL34 blade I've got in the shop and let you know.
     
  9. Thanks for all the replies guys! Much appreciate it. Not sure when I could get enough time to try working with steel, but one day hopefully.
     
  10. Definitely going to try pick up a scotch-brite belt and some compound for them. Never had great success with medium or fine grits and hand sand from #150 to my end hand satin polish at #800.

    As you can probably imagine, I'm developing a decent set or triceps doing it this way. but it gets the job done.

    I've had the trizact gator belts recommended to me but my grinder takes a 50x2000mm belt and 2x72 just don't fit. Unless someone knows somewhere that will make to length?

    Thank you as always for the great advise.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     

Share This Page