Polishing: 101 and beyond??

J

JD Spydo

Joined
Nov 20, 2004
Messages
4,827
I just got back from a job trip working in a wetland project in North Missouri. I have a Cold Steel Gurkha Kukri ( a non coated one) made from their proprietary Carbon V blade steel which I use extensive up in the wetlands and find it to be an extremely valuable tool. However the last time I used the tool and later put the knife away in it's sheath it got a significant amount of rust and corrosion on the main part of the blade somehow and I suspect that someone got it wet which in turn really resulted in some major corrosion.

What I need to know is what would be the best "polishing" method to remove the rust and the minor pitting that occured on the blade. And a method to hopefully prevent rust and corrosion the next time.

I know that the subject of POLISHING is a wide open field and that there are many methods of Polishing.

This knife is so pitted and corroded that I really think that this project is going to need an abrasive polish instead of a chemical type polish like the Flitz products and others similar ot them. Flitz is a great product but this job I am sure is going to have to be done differently. Also I would like some extensive feedback on the subject of POLISHING. You just don't see it mentioned much here on the Toolshed Forum so I really would like to learn.
 
On a machete I wouldn't worry to much about polish,if the blade got rusted I would just give it a blast of WD40 or similar and knock the rust of with fine steel wool or scour pad etc. Just my thoughts. Good luck.
 
If you really want to bother polishing it up, your going to need various grits of wetdry sand paper. Depending on the current condition of hte blade you may be able to start anywhere from 220 grit to 600 grit. But basically you just want to work your way up through the grits. By 1500 it will be getting close to a mirror finish. Once you get up to 2000, just be sure to get all the earlier sanding marks out and then finish up with something like mothers mag polish. Really leaves a great mirror finish.

The nice thing about mirror polishing is that by smoothing out the surface like that you give water no place to get into and rust no place to start. I couldn't say if it really works but just look at SAK's.
 
lotoblades said:
On a machete I wouldn't worry to much about polish,if the blade got rusted I would just give it a blast of WD40 or similar and knock the rust of with fine steel wool or scour pad etc. Just my thoughts. Good luck.
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Yeah I see your point there lotoblades :) However I thought that this blade would be good to practice restoration techniques on. If I screw up the surface of that knife it's no big deal.

As much as we all talk about knife repairs and modifications here on the Toolshed Forum I don't remember very much being said about the art of POLISHING. I am hopeful that someone who does a lot of it will chime in. I know that there is a time and place for both methods of POLISHING ( abrasive and non-abrasive).

I have also wondered if chemical type polishes like Flitz are all created equal as well. Also I was wondering about different grades of buffing wheels. Thanks for the comments thus far guys. JD
 
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