Mirror finishing of knives have various advantages including increased sharpness and resistance to corrosion. Today we are going to tell you how to perform mirror finishing on knives. For more details about advantages of mirror finishing, you can refer to this article.
The products we used:
What are Needed
For mirror finishing of knives, either whetstone, sandpaper or abrasive film is used.
There are several types of whetstones. Among them, particularly recommended is the ones from SHAPTON, which manufactures long-selling genuine whetstones.
SHAPTON whetstones have the following advantages.
- Not require tedious maintenance
- Save time and labor to sharpen knives with high content of abrasive agents
- Have more durability
- More recognizable with color variety for different grit size
- Comes with the specialized case that can be used as a sharpening stand
Ordinary whetstones need maintenance such as chamfering, water absorption prior to use and drying after use. SHAPTON whetstones don’t require these tedious maintenance procedures. They are easy to use even for beginners. They are also used by professional chefs for high polishing capability.
For general use, it would be enough to have a whetstone of #1500. To fix cracked blades etc., you should first use a rough whetstone of #320 or less and then a finer whetstone with higher grit number.
For mirror finishing, you should have whetstones of #320, #1500, #8000 to 12000, and #30000. Whetstones of #30000 are in particular specialized for mirror finishing.
However, whetstones cannot polish the middle flat part of knives, for which sandpaper or abrasive film should be prepared. Same as whetstones, grit size of #300s to 15000s is recommended for those.
How to Perform Mirror Finishing
Following are the steps for mirror finishing:
1. Adjust outline of the blade
First fix the outline of the blade. The picture shows the blade before sharpened. If there is a crack on the blade, first fix the outline with a rough whetstone of #320 and then finish with a finer whetstone with higher grit number.
By this, the edge of the blade will shine like mirror. For double-edged knives, polish both front side and back side. For single-edged knives, polish only one side.
2. Polish the middle flat part of the knife.
Polish the middle flat part of the knife.
For this, use sandpaper or abrasive film, not whetstones. Use the ones with lower grit number first and then higher ones. Prior to doing this, you can protect the blade with masking tape beforehand if you are afraid to scratch the edge of the blade.
When you polish the middle flat part of knives, they will shine like this.
Summary
Mirror finishing is not difficult, but it might require patience as it repeats the same motions. You should take enough time for each process and handle with special care. The best knives you would get after these tedious processes will certainly increase cooking efficiency as well as upgrade cooking outcome and taste, giving you more satisfaction.
