Polishing a blade (continued). 

Blade polished with 1000 grade paper
The blade has been polished with 1000 grade wet and dry.  You can see the reflection of the tripod legs becoming more defined in the lower section of the blade.  When viewed at a certain angle a faint temperline can be seen.

Blade polished with 1200 grade paper
This shows the blade polished with 1200 grade.  At these finer grades it is important to keep the blade and the water clean.

Blade polished with 1500 grade paper
At 1500 the blade should be very reflective, making it more difficult to photograph.  Note that the dark line along the cutting edge is a relection.

Blade polished with 2000 grade paper
The blade is highly reflective after being polished with 2000 grade wet and dry.  The temperline is slightly visible.  At this stage it is important to have polished at about 60 degrees to the edge and polished until the lines from the 1500 grade paper have gone.

Blade polished straight with 2000 grade paper
The final stage with the wet and dry paper is to polish the entire blade parallel to the edge with 2000 grade paper.  Polish until the previous 2000 grade line are no longer visible and the temperline should be quite easy to see.

The next stage is to etch the blade.


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This page was created Monday 2nd July 2001