Mirror polish steel next to brass

D

Duane

New Member
Hi there,

I am looking for advice on mirror polishing a blade. I am used to making full tang knives and this is my first hidden tang knife with brass fittings. The knife is getting an integrated brass backstrap and a S-guard.

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I need to mirror polish the blade and what I am not sure off is when to put the backstrap and guard on. If I buff the blade before I put the backstrap on, it may round off the edges where the backstrap goes. If I put the backstrap on before I buff, will the backstrap not buff away faster than the steel?

with S-guard... do I buff the blade and guard separately before I put the guard on, or do I buff them together after I put the guard on? Basically, what I am worried about is that the brass will wear down faster than the steel does when I buff. I hope this makes sense.
 
The fact here is that these type of "problems" is what we as knifemakers deal with everyday. Often times we decide to do something, then realize just how much time/effort it's going to take to do whatever it is that we want. In many cases it forces us to do things in a different order then we're used to, or we have to "discover" new techniques. It's going to be a lot more work, but if you insist on a mirror finished blade, you going to want to do it before applying the brass, otherwise you'll not only "wear" away at the brass considerably more them the steel, but you'll also get dark specks on/in the blade's finish from the brass transferring from the buff.

My gut tells me that because you seem to only mention the "buff", you might not be aware of how much time and effort needed to achieve a "good" mirror finish on a blade. Buffing, when it comes to a mirror finish, is merely a final finishing technique. Before buffing, is going to require a great deal of hand finishing, usually all the way through 2000+ grit.

Personally I do not make, or offer mirror finished blades..... for me there are a number of reasons, but suffice to say that I simply do not like the appearance, and there is so much time and effort that goes into it, from a business aspect, I can never get "my money" back out of the finished product.

Concerning the "S" guard, in general for this type of knife, it requires that the "components" be built/finished, then everything assembled into the end product. There's really no good way around it, this type of knife, with this type of construction/components, is simply a LOT of work.
 
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