Mirror Poloshing a Kobun...

TheKnifeDude

TheKnifeDude

Joined
Jan 13, 2005
Messages
282
Ok I did search for this and didn't come up with a conclusive anwser. So I decided to get rid of that crappy bead blasted finsih on my Cold Steel Kobun. I really like the knife and wanna get a sort of katana type look. I bought the finest polishing wheel for a power drill, and some mothers mag and aluminum polish. After A bit of work I ended up with what I would describe as a high satin finish. You can see your reflections in it but is pretty blurry. I than went to work again and the finish didn't get any finer. It seems that I have reached the zenith of that polish. I think I need a finer grit polishing product. Can any of you guys reccomend a really fine polish. I want it to look like those elaborate Japanese katanas with a really bright mirror finish. Also a while back I've seen a blue cord wrapped kobun somewhere on these forums but searched again to no avail. I would like to cord wrap this knife the traditional way like a katana. In most of the cord wrapping articles I've seen there is usually two holes in the handle to finish the wrap but the Kobun only has one. But that picture I've seen shows it can be done very nicely. Any help appreciated.
 
We started a new forum! :cool:

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what kind of steel is it
it might be better to hand rub /sand using 800, 1500 and 2000 grit before buffing it out
butch
 
I find if you sand through varioud grades of paper you can get a nice finish,to get a true mirror finish i would start a 220 grit and work your way up,that's how i polished this bad boy up from a dull satin finish.


typhoon.jpg


Notice my hand aswell as the camera in the reflection?
 
butcher_block said:
what kind of steel is it
it might be better to hand rub /sand using 800, 1500 and 2000 grit before buffing it out
butch
Click to expand...

Those bead blasted Kobuns are made with 420 Cryoquenched steel. Their shiny stainless Kobuns are made with AUS-8 and their black coated Kobuns are made with their proprietary Carbon V. The 420 usually takes a really nice polish. I can't even imagine why they would bead blast it. I used to be an avid Cold Steel fan too. But the Kobun is one of my all time favorites>> Great knife>>> good luck :thumbup:
 
you should be fine using 400 600 and up from there 420 ss should get a very nice shine to it just take your time sanding and make sure you get all the scratches from the last grit before moving up to the next
it helps to change the direction of the sanding between grits to show if you missed any spots
 
i had to use low grit paper on this blade to remove the grinfd lines,but if there are none you could get away with starting at 400.

this is aus-8 blade steel.
typhoonblade.jpg
 
Holy cow that mirror polish looks great!
 
Ok guys just today I got the finest sandpaper available at Ace Hardware. 2000 grit. I tried it on my Kobun and it just heavily scratched the finish I applied with a wheel and polish. Do I need something finer than 2000 grit?
 
TheKnifeDude said:
Ok guys just today I got the finest sandpaper available at Ace Hardware. 2000 grit. I tried it on my Kobun and it just heavily scratched the finish I applied with a wheel and polish. Do I need something finer than 2000 grit?
Click to expand...
It wont be an instant change,i would start at 400 grit wet/dry,in the same direction move to 600 grit wet/dry,800 wet/dry,1000 wet/dry then 2000 wet/dry.by then you will have removed enough steel it should be shining pretty nice,just buff it and away you go.

atleast that's how i do it!!
 
Dude, before you can buff to a true mirror finish you have to do a lot of preliminary work, going through progressively finer grades of sandpaper to make the blade really flat and smooth and almost polished before you begin to buff it. Then the buff makes the finishing touch.

When you buffed it without any preliminary work all you did was put a superficial gloss over the basically not flat and smooth surface -- so it's ripply and not satisfactory.

You have to start over and do it right this time, and the first step will unavoidably remove that superficial gloss. Don't worry about that -- look forward to how fine it will look when you're done! A true mirror finish takes a lot of work, a lot more than just buffing, but there is no shortcut to really good results.
 
Say I have a knife blade that is full of scratches from being used and from sharpening..... if I attempt to sand it to get a mirror polish is it fair to say it will look like new? Meaning... can i take all the scratches out and make it look nice again!? :D
 
pakoraman said:
Say I have a knife blade that is full of scratches from being used and from sharpening..... if I attempt to sand it to get a mirror polish is it fair to say it will look like new? Meaning... can i take all the scratches out and make it look nice again!? :D
Click to expand...
Sure you can!
 
Yes, but it's not a "rub briskly over the surface with your fingers deal". Look up "hand rubbed finish" and how to or something on google, I think Don Fogg's site has some great tutorials there on how to properly finish a blade with sandpaper.
 
Okay I got a Benchmade 42 Balisong Blade and went through the following sandpaper grits

220
320
400
600
1500

What i ended up with was something nice enough to believe that this is how its done... I think all I need is that buffer stuff...

Now three questions..

What is this buffing stuff

Can I buy a machine that will get me the same or better results

If its a balisong blade, how do I remove the tang pin so that I can give the whole thing a mirror finish.

Thank you :)

-pakora :thumbup:
 
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