In this polishing compound guide, you can choose the right wheels and compounds for your job. The decisions may look awful, but keep in mind that polishing is usually a multi-phase process for the desired results. Determine the number of steps you need. We recommend you begin the work with the finest possible compounds quickly and easily.
You don’t want to remove more material, but you don’t want to work three hours for fifteen minutes simultaneously. The best way to learn is to experience. You want to start with a couple of scrap pieces to get to know different compounds and how they are cut or polished.
Before you polishing compound to a knife, be careful you have to start it with the grossest grain. Start by stropping the tip of the blade, which is the front half of the blade. The angle is not as important with stropping as other techniques. If the blade’s side shines instead of the edge, you know if you are on the right path. Is there a noise of scraping? Then the angle can be slightly reduced.
It may be hard to believe, but it will result in a sharper cut to sharpen a knife using a leather stroke. One thing you need is to sharpen your knife in advance. In Japanese whetstones, we recommend that they be sharpened before stropping until they reach a minimum of 5000 grains. When you start to strope, depending on steel quality and blade hardness, you will see an improvement quite quickly. You will usually notice that the knife catches and shatters the paper if you cut a piece of paper with an unscrewed knife.
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How to Polishing Compound?
- A Slight Beginning: Pull the knife carefully to the back of the blade through the stroke. This prevents cutting the stroke. Verify that you are on the right path. You’re going to notice it without saying if something goes wrong. The stroke shall be used for the whole cut, slide the knife to the tip, so that the knife’s heel is touched on the end of the stroke as well.
- Center Note: It is perfect if you can move the center of the blade in a fast but subtle motion from the tip down the leather. It sounds harder than it is. It ensures that the core of the blade is as fluid as possible, which is the section that you use most. You do not exert too much light pressure. It destroys a cut and puts you in danger of accident if you press a cut too hardened.
- Last Step: You continue the process until you see your progress slowing down. You now have the option to choose a finer grain size. After finishing, glide the stroke down carefully by pressing only the knife weight. This is to add to your polishing work a finishing touch and clean it.
- Don’t Forget to Roughening Up Your Strop: At some point, you’ll notice the stroke turning black. That’s an indicator of promise! In fact, the black color is the cut you polished. The stroke also starts to shine. That’s not good because the efficiency of your stroke deteriorates quickly. If a stroke is a harsh touch, it’s much better. You will realize that you polish faster with a redder strop. The stroke can be rugged and done in a variety of ways. You can use a wire brush to roughen your stroke. Do not attack the leather immediately; rather, start assessing lightly how much pressure you need to raise it. You can do this with a saw as well. The surface can be rugged by moving the saw over the stroke. Make sure you don’t harm the stroke too much.
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