I plan on taking my M9 LE and polishing it up to a mirror finish. I plan on doing this by hand with a sanding block. What grits paper would you guys recommend for this, in succession?

I love mirror finishes, and what better way is there to get to know this knife?

From what I've seen, I'd wet sand and start around 240 or 320. Then on to 400, 500, 600, and 800. I'd top it off with 1500 or 2000. To polish, I use Mother's Billet metal polish.

I sometimes will start sanding perpendicular to the edge with one grit and when I move up in grit number (or down in grit size), I'll switch to sanding parallel with the edge. This lets me know when all the previous grit's scratches are gone. It's easy for a deep 240 grit scratch to hide when you only sand one way only to show up when you start polishing.

My 2c. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Thanks. Since the blade is already satin, I figured maybe start with the 400 and go up from there, but I thought I'd ask, having never done this particular thing to a knife before! It's not like there's a bunch of roughness I have to take out of it.

Well... there's a few minor scratches I managed to put on the blade, since all of my knives are users (I'm carrying it right now as a matter of fact) which is what spawned this idea in the first place.

Good luck buddy! Want to see alot of pics when it´s done <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

2000 grit should make is shine good...definitly need so see some pics when your done.

I haven't started yet... I need to get the materials. But I'm looking forward to the shiny!