Stropping question for a mirror polish

tacticooledc · #1

Working on my newly acquired emerson, just wondering- can I strop the polished part of the knife right below the stonewashed? I know I can get the edge to mirror edge if I strop it, will the blade itself have the same effect?

razorsharp · #2

so you want the stonewash polished a bit?

tacticooledc · #3

razorsharp wrote:so you want the stonewash polished a bit?

Nooo, not the stonewash. Emersons have the stonewash part on the very top, followed by a slight satin, and then it's the cutting edge. I wanted that satin part mirror polished :D

razorsharp · #4

ah ok. tape off the stone washed part (dont wanna scratch it) Sand through several grades of sandpaper, 180, 220, 320, 600, 800, 1200, 1500, 2000, . if you can find some, sand with some 3000, 4000 and 6000 grit. polish up the grind more with whatever strop compound you have :) . spend longer than you think you need to on the finer grits, to make sure its scratch free. 2000 is quite scratchy so yeah, maybe look for some micro abrasive sandpaper

tacticooledc · #5

razorsharp wrote:ah ok. tape off the stone washed part (dont wanna scratch it) Sand through several grades of sandpaper, 180, 220, 320, 600, 800, 1200, 1500, 2000, . if you can find some, sand with some 3000, 4000 and 6000 grit. polish up the grind more with whatever strop compound you have :) . spend longer than you think you need to on the finer grits, to make sure its scratch free. 2000 is quite scratchy so yeah, maybe look for some micro abrasive sandpaper

oh boy, i don't have any sandpaper lol. I literally went from the spyderco ultra fine stones tothe .5 micron paste on leather, to the plain leather strop (this is all for the edge, and it's just very shiny now- not a mirror polish).

Do I need sandpaper to mirror both the edge and the satin part?

razorsharp · #6

tacticooledc wrote:oh boy, i don't have any sandpaper lol. I literally went from the spyderco ultra fine stones tothe .5 micron paste on leather, to the plain leather strop (this is all for the edge, and it's just very shiny now- not a mirror polish).

Do I need sandpaper to mirror both the edge and the satin part?

i would try sand near the edge, try avoid hitting the edge too bad, it will dull the blade, reprofile once sanded. the sandpaper shouldnt cost more than 20 bucks if you find all the grits. It is possible to mirror polish the edge with sandpaper, but do a microbevel on the SM, sandpaper almost never gives a good edge.

tacticooledc · #7

razorsharp wrote:i would try sand near the edge, try avoid hitting the edge too bad, it will dull the blade, reprofile once sanded. the sandpaper shouldnt cost more than 20 bucks if you find all the grits. It is possible to mirror polish the edge with sandpaper, but do a microbevel on the SM, sandpaper almost never gives a good edge.

Gotcha, will check it out later today to see if walmart or a hardware store sells all the grits. My emerson will definitely look spiffy after I mirror the blade. Hopefully it won't take several days to finish :D

NYRich · #8

I've used 3M micron paper to polish blades by hand and they work well for that purpose. It's a pain to do and takes quite a bit of time. You can get a pack at Amazon for about 10 bucks which includes 5 or 6 grits.

As the final step, I strop the blade using whatever compound I happen to have. This last step should result in a mirror-like finish if you've done the micron paper "sanding" correctly. I've only done this on FFG blades so taping off the stonewashed area (as already suggested) is an excellent idea.