Using a Dremel to mirror polish a knife?

Ferahgo

Ferahgo

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I have a little BK14 that I have tried to get to a mirror polish, but I can never get it there. I used sandpaper graduating to 3k grit, but I never can get it truly mirror polished. I read on the forums a long time ago that a guy used a Dremel tool to polish his knife perfectly. Does anyone have advice on what wheel to use?
 
Yes- none. The surface contact area on small wheels is not sufficient for polishing large flat areas.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Yes- none. The surface contact area on small wheels is not sufficient for polishing large flat areas.
Click to expand...

This. Never tried on knife but have on other stuff. Bill speaks truth.

You may be able to get it close with dremel and then blend by hand but I doubt it'll be perfect. You'll have to try it on scrap first. And gonna be a lot of elbow grease.
 
It can be done but it isn't very practical for the reason Mr. DeShiv's specified.
You will be doing almost as much work to blend the polishing together as you did sanding.
You will also use much more compound than you would using a larger wheel
The only advantage to using a dremel for polishing is that it wont tend to throw the knife at you if the wheel catches it.
 
Did this 15 with sandpaper. I bet could have made into a "mirror" if would have had higher grain paper. I stripped it using 400-600 grit. I would try putting some more elbow grease into using the paper maybe. I personally would not try a dremel but maybe it's possible. I got a knockoff dremel and attachments suck so maybe there's attachments that would work descent. Myself I would use the paper for best results. Have more control over it but it's more work.

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Ferahgo said:
I have a little BK14 that I have tried to get to a mirror polish, but I can never get it there. I used sandpaper graduating to 3k grit, but I never can get it truly mirror polished. I read on the forums a long time ago that a guy used a Dremel tool to polish his knife perfectly. Does anyone have advice on what wheel to use?
Click to expand...
If you want a true mirror polish on your Becker you'll need to spend allot of time on low grits and slowly working your way through the progression. All together it took me around 12 hours of hand sanding to polish my bk2 up to 3k grit. Afterwards I used a dremel with the polishing kit and some flitz polish and went over the blade real good with it.

It'll need to be a mirror polish thou before buffing it, buffing will only enhance the polish and shine.

HgH2nEd.jpg


OFuwpB7.jpg
 
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Bill DeShivs said:
Yes- none. The surface contact area on small wheels is not sufficient for polishing large flat areas.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I would love to see a knife polished perfectly by a dremmel. I seriously doubt the validity of the story. And I've been using dremmel and fordems for years.

There great for all kinds of things. But evenly polishing a surface way larger than the wheel???doubt it.
 
Ferahgo said:
Fist off, I should ask if it can even improve?
[/QUOTE

You just wanted to show that sucker off didn' cha?;) IDK but it's reflecting dam good. As others have said try some paste and buff if haven't already. I can't stand looking at my ugly mug or otherwise would do the same to my 15. Too lazy to keep it that way also. It's patina for me.
Click to expand...
 
I would say that's a wise choice. Any attempt to get it more shiny will likely make it worse. I've been polishing guns and gun parts, machine parts etc. for a long time, and trust me, that is polished really well. I haven't seen too many items polished much more than that. To go higher would require a powered buffer, which takes some serious skill to use. I've ruined many an object with those. I'd leave well enough alone brotha.

Great work. It takes some serious dedication to bring that level of polish by hand.
 
I don't have a Dremel but I do have a Foredom along with two buffing machine with assortment of buffing supply.

For small project that needs to have close to perfect mirror polish, I do it by hand. I have found especially important, in case of dealing with multiple transition surfaces, to bring out visual clarity distinction between intersacting transition.

Time takes to bring out the mirror polish is directly depending on HRc. In an average, regardless of alloy type, it will take around 6-8 hours on 58-59 and up to 40 hours on higher HRc.

Here are few examples that took 6-8 hours:

DSCN2425_zpslej6a2ib.jpg


DSCN2428_zpsbgym7ig5.jpg


DSCN2083_zps4488ad17.jpg


DSCN2339_zpscv1czh3k.jpg


This lays in between before forcing a patina:

DSCN2261_zpsnk4zwlnu.jpg




While these took close to 40 hrs:

DSCN2319_zpsvo0dwxtj.jpg


DSCN2320_zpsv8dmgsgx.jpg


DSCN2217_zps3hqh2slt.jpg


DSCN2221_zpsafle2vgy.jpg


Contrast between the most and the least time demanding:

DSCN2125_zps39a4bc11.jpg


Finally, contract between one of the best mirror polish and my humble attempt:

DSCN2464_zpsrsfqsi4t.jpg
 
victorf said:
I don't have a Dremel but I do have a Foredom along with two buffing machine with assortment of buffing supply.

For small project that needs to have close to perfect mirror polish, I do it by hand. I have found especially important, in case of dealing with multiple transition surfaces, to bring out visual clarity distinction between intersacting transition.

Time takes to bring out the mirror polish is directly depending on HRc. In an average, regardless of alloy type, it will take around 6-8 hours on 58-59 and up to 40 hours on higher HRc.

Here are few examples that took 6-8 hours:

DSCN2425_zpslej6a2ib.jpg


DSCN2428_zpsbgym7ig5.jpg


DSCN2083_zps4488ad17.jpg


DSCN2339_zpscv1czh3k.jpg


This lays in between before forcing a patina:

DSCN2261_zpsnk4zwlnu.jpg




While these took close to 40 hrs:

DSCN2319_zpsvo0dwxtj.jpg


DSCN2320_zpsv8dmgsgx.jpg


DSCN2217_zps3hqh2slt.jpg


DSCN2221_zpsafle2vgy.jpg


Contrast between the most and the least time demanding:

DSCN2125_zps39a4bc11.jpg


Finally, contract between one of the best mirror polish and my humble attempt:

DSCN2464_zpsrsfqsi4t.jpg
Click to expand...
That's some impressive polishing! What did you use to do the S90V blade?
 
Reboot an old thread. Dont know if anyone has interest in this anymore. But i can and do mirror finish knives with a dremel. I have pics and vids but im not as techy as i used to be and dont know how to do it here.
 
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