Polishing is a multistep process utilizing buffing wheels and compounds. Basically, each step must remove the scratches from the previous operation, leaving only its own smaller scratches; and this process is continued until the item is sufficiently polished. If you search the site with a good deal of patience, you will see a lot of detailed advice from experienced polishers. I have a knife blade made of some kind of very hard carbon steel.
I want to put a mirror finish on the blade to get it ready for engraving. I have hand sanded the blade all the way to 2, grit wet dry and buffed with a brown jewelers rough. After all of this I can still see tiny scratches that I just can't buff out In fact, in some cases, blade geometry and heat treat can actually trump steel chemistry. All the info you need to understand the steel in your knife blade. But you can do a lot with lesser steel that is shaped and heat treated correctly. Blade finish refers to the final polishing of a blade, and it can make a lot of difference.
Read on for more depth on these three attributes. Blade geometry is a few things — grind, blade shape, and finish. The best example of this is the Al Mar Ultralight series of knives. These knives have great grinds, shapes, and finishes. It makes the humble AUS8 steel perform closer to a high-end powder steel than its humble chemistry should. Blade grinds come in three big groups: Here is a good Wikipedia page on grinds. To me, convex edges are best for hard use tasks and splitting chores this is why all good axe heads have a convex grind.
I am generally not a fan of flat grinds for any use, but a good flat grid on very thin stock can make for an excellent slicer, too.
In addition to grinds, the shape of the blade impacts performance too. I also like a reverse tanto grind as well.
For piercing tasks, a good sharp wharncliffe works well, as does a spear point blade. Here is a good Wikipedia article on each of the blade shapes with pictures. The magic ingredient of knife performance is heat treat. Heat treat is the process by which the steel is converted from its unannealed state to a harder annealed state. This is easily the nicest knife that I have ever held. The design is well thought out down to the smallest details and is exactly what I was looking for. Very ergonomic, capable of just about anything I would need a knife for and a formidable weapon for self defense.
The craftsmanship is Incredible. The symmetry of the blade and the fineness of the edge are magnificent. The mirror polish is just like looking in the mirror. And it has the kind of balance that makes it want to be in your hand. I really like both sheaths and your tactical sheaths is far nicer than any that I have seen.
I could go on and on. I'm moving to 30 acres In Colorado in about 4 months so I wanted a nice knife to carry out there and this one got the job. I plan on keeping this knife until I'm old and giving it to a younger person in my family. I feel like I got a very good deal from you as far as pricing, it could have cost much more and I would still have been happy. It is a privilege and honor to own this knife and I am deeply grateful to have been allowed to get it.
If you've read through the Frequently Asked Questions Page and the Blades page , you'll find references to differences between a fine knife and a merely good knife. If you've looked over the Factory Knives vs. Handmade Custom Knives page , you'll easily see distinctions and features that make a fine handmade or custom knife more valuable than production knives.
If you're reading this, you're probably an educated knife collector or user, or want to know in plain language, what the specific differences are between fine knives and merely good knives, and between my knives and many other makers. While there are other finely handmade knives in the world, I can only speak to my own personal professional business and artistic practices in the art and career of knife making. These are distinctions I incorporate into every project, and sometimes as many artists do obsess about.
It's not just the materials, the fine grinds and finishes, the filework, engraving, embellishment, or sheaths and stands that determine my success, nor is it the designs and interpretation of geometry, line, and form that ultimately sets the value and success of your investment. It is the six distinctions listed below, in combination with the practices and materials above that separate my creations from others. Fit is a small word with big meaning. In this trade, it means that components put together and assembled must be so with very close, even tight tolerances.
No gaps should be seen between bolsters and blades, between handles and guards, between sheath inlays and leather body. Everything is tight, fused, rigid, and solid. Fit can be felt while the hand runs over the bolsters and handle material, over the exotic inlays and the sheath's leather. The look, even with close inspection must be as Tom Clancy says in his quote about my work "seamless. Poor fit is the number two offender in factory and amateur knives. Anyone can notice it; fine fit it is difficult to produce, and it sets fine knives, swords, and art apart from inferior knives.
It contributes to the overall strength and rigidity of the knife, sheath, stand and artwork, and also prevents infiltration of moisture, fluids, or even atmospheric contamination. It can mean the difference between a knife lasting a few years or three generations. It is very important. Finish refers to the final treatment of the material. Since many materials are used in fine knife making, knowledge of the process of finishing and control of the final appearance of these is first learned through research, then many years of practice in various techniques.
Each material usually requires a different process to finish, and there are a handful of finishes that look good. Fine finish is appealing, professional looking, and enhances the individual material as well as the value of the overall investment.
High chromium and high carbon tool steels look fantastic when mirror finished, but it takes ten steps of grinding with controlled skill and clean, practiced technique to bring that out while still maintaining a crisp clean geometry and preserving grind lines and contours. Most makers simply don't have the patience to execute a fine finish.
Plunge cuts should reflect each other in terms of symmetry on each side of the knife blade. The plunge cuts at left do so and the ones at right do. Part 5 of the knife making tutorial. In this part we finish making the knife, attach the handle, polish the blade and sharpen.
Factories and manufacturers never properly finish a blade or metal fittings and components of the knife, ever. Because properly finishing gemstone takes longer than finishing metals, I believe this is why there are very few gemstone handled knives. Gemstones almost always look best when highly polished; their true internal color, luminosity, and character are revealed thus.
But every gem is different, so it takes a whole group of practiced techniques to master the finish. A great deal of value of a knife, sword, or art project is placed on the finish. In addition to the final appearance, it demonstrates that the maker cares enough about his client to offer the very pinnacle of material's condition. Like fit, it is extremely important. Balance is not an easy term to strictly define.
It does not mean that a knife should literally balance on the forefinger with the weight of the blade exactly opposing that of the handle. Knives are all different, and must be balanced accordingly. The maker alone is responsible for that; it takes years of practice to develop one's own style of balance. Some makers build knives with voluminous, lightweight handles, some with large overbearing blades and tiny stick handles.
Some makers build blocky chunks, some build weak and thin anemic lacy knives. Each maker has his own style. This is a characteristic that cannot always be interpreted from a photograph or from the internet. You can, however, get a good idea of a knife's balance from the photo. Does it look handle-heavy? Does the blade overlord the handle with too much weight and little grind? Does it look comfortable and inviting to pick it up? Will it easily conform to the hand going in, yet be smooth and easy going out of the hand?
Hands are not straight and square; they are a complexity of curved forms. Some knives look rudimentary, some look refined; this is a balance characteristic. Bad balance character is the number one offense of factories and makers. It translates to a knife that has abrupt, even uncomfortable lack of appeal. It separates a novice from a professional, and is the cause of many ugly and uncomfortable knives.