I sharpen my pocket knife with 400 grit. It takes metal off.... I don't think this is called polishing :shock:

Just relaying what John Gillette told me yesterday when I called him regarding case coloring a Winchester Low Wall. He told me to use a Scotch Brite Red pad and stated that would take to to 400 level of polish.

OK, that's different. I use wet/dry sandpaper... a lot different from the abrasiveness of Scotch Brite... sorry.

I guess what he meant was not 400 grit abrasive paper, but 400 micro inch finish, which is a very fine finish.

Most case color guys do in fact (hand) polish the annealed steel with sandpaper, and the standard is 320 grit. 400 would be considered a bit on the fine side. I have read that it is better to polish to 320 grit because it provides some "tooth" for the carbon to adhere to. That is also the polishing grit that Dr. Gaddy advised in his DGJ articles. Of course, the amount of polishing will determine how much metal is removed, more so than the grit used. I have tried polishing the work to both 320 and 400 final grit and found no discernible difference in the colors achieved. I can also attest to the fact that the micro scratches left by 320 grit paper in the steel are completely filled in and obscured during the case coloring process.

But I believe you will have lost some of the sharp detail of the engraving.

Again, the issue is how much polishing you do. Unless there is damage that needs to be repaired by filing and aggressive sanding, all you need to do is brighten the surface with some light sanding, and its not difficult to avoid the areas with fine engraving. That will often cause the case colors to be thinner in the engraved areas, which most people prefer. But it seems to be fairly well accepted that richer and deeper colors result from coarser grit (320) as opposed to a high polish finish (800). Perhaps Brad B will enlighten us with some information on what grit he prefers to polish to when he case colors.

Dean, you must sharpen your knife before its gets to dull. That's good mine gets like a garden hoe will barely cut bale strings. Garden hoe guess i'll tell my hoe story. Once I was at the gunshow in Wichita and there was a winchester hoe on a table. A light went off in my head and I said "everybody needs a good hoe" he didn't even smile so I walked on. I thought it was a good one.... ch

i laughed calvin...but the joke good probably betook wrong..hope not..... charlie

I think Turnbull charges $250 to caseharden a frame and parts. Your prep. I like his colors for Paakas.

I use 400 wet or dry paper for prep on barrels and frames. Dings and deep scratches may need filing first.