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INFO! 2019 Gold Dollar Mod Competition

I was planning on putting a mirror finish on mine, and I have to say, I greatly underestimated the amount of effort it's taking. I have sandpaper from 60-3000 grit, and as of yesterday all of the buffing compounds except white rouge, as well as diamond paste ranging from 7u to .5u. At what grit can I jump from sandpaper to the emery buffing compound? I played with it a little and it's getting "shiny" but still a lot of visible scratches so I'm worried I jumped too soon. I think I hand sanded up to 400 the other day, although I was sitting in a parked car with a sleeping toddler and either had minimal light or the blinding sun so it was hard to check to make sure I removed all the scratches from the previous grit as I progressed.
 
I can't answer your question, but the image of you sitting in the car with a toddler sanding a razor is priceless! None of us, including me, has any excuse for not doing this if you can!
 
I can't answer your question, but the image of you sitting in the car with a toddler sanding a razor is priceless! None of us, including me, has any excuse for not doing this if you can!
If you think that's funny...I shouldn't even mention how my attempted father's day deadline had me running them dremel on an inverter in my car at red lights on my way to work (after dropping off at the babysitter of course.) That was probably more trouble than it was worth, but I've been carrying the whole project back and forth from home and work trying to work on it any chance I got, figured I might as well utilize the dead time in city traffic. ( I wear sunglasses and had the blade taped and was only working on the tang and the jimps? removal)

As far as my sanding goes, I think the sandpaper I have is not really suited for hard steel. I have 60 grit that says aluminum oxide on the back, but the rest came from a pack off amazon of 50 which are all black. They seem to go smooth very quickly, so I'm wondering if they are made out of a less effective abrasive. It seems no matter how much I sand, I cannot get all the scratches out from the previous grit, so my "up to 400" the other day likely still had scratches from 60.
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
Try the red resin type sandpaper. Works pretty good on hardened steel. The black stuff, some is okay, some sucks.
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
Thank you, I'll try that. Do you know how high of a grit I need to go before I can reasonably jump to the buffing compounds?

Take it to 2k grit sandpaper, then go to 3u diamond paste. Then 1u, and if you really want to go nuts, .5u, .25u, and .1u, remembering that each stage must completely eliminate the scratch pattern of the previous stage to make any real difference. I don't think much of other abrasive compounds, apart from maybe CBN. I can tell you this... run the progression properly and take no shortcuts, and you will end up with an unbelievable finish. 2k grit sandpaper gives a nice warm matte finish. The jump to 3u is a big one, but with dremel and cloth or felt wheel, it is doable. Use a piece of aluminum bar stock to rest the razor on. It serves both to protect the apex and as a heat sink. From the .25u stage I like to use a piece of old tshirt, and do it in hand. Takes a long time but it is worth it.
 
20190504_123826.jpg 20190504_130933.jpg 20190511_193623.jpg Just Posting a few Pics
 
OK folks, we are less than a week away from the closing date. Each of you has until July 1 to finish your work. We'll open a new thread in the novice and unlimited classes on that date. You will have a week to post final pictures of your entries. (I guess that gives you an extra week but don't tell anybody) On July 8 we will post polls where the membership will be encouraged to vote on your stunning work. Its up to you to pick which class you belong in. Novices have never done this before. Those entering in the unlimited class have modded at least one.

Going back over the posts I see @bpm5cm, @Newcreature, @Monoxide, and @Dryphter have announced their intent to enter. @Lord Fatboy, was going to enter but life got in the way. Is there anybody else out there working in secret?

Good luck everybody! There are some fantastic prizes to be had.
 
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