I brought a small sheet of SS 301 0.7mm thick that was advertised as polished up. It had the sheen of paint that was wet sanded with say 3000grit sand paper. Also it had a grain to it, like brushed finish you find on laptops.

So I polished it up using my d/a with coarse foam pads & compound M105 & noticed after about 4 sessions (each 2 passes then clean off) the level of gloss & reflection sharpness stopped increasing. In fact a Polish with M205 on softer pads seems to make only a tiny difference.

I have reached it`s maximum level of gloss with no sign of any swirl at all in any angle in sunlight. But this grain stands out bad.

Up close like a few inches or on very low angles it`s like mirror sharp, but from a few feet back straight on it`s alot less sharp.

You can clearly see the grain that is always there which I suspect is why its not like a mirror. Strangely after I polished it up the sheet developed a few random straight fine marks in it, they are within the steel itself & nothing on the surface.

Are there any grades of SS that can be polished up like a mirror without this grain?

thanks