On Tue, 18 Sep 2007 02:42:18 +0200, pete wrote:

Can anyone tell me how to polish raw stainless steel to get the nice
shiny finish? I can get it up to a satin "brushed finish" with a belt
sander, but I'd like to get it a bit nicer as its for my chainplates
and bolted for all to see on a bulkhead. They are 316L btw, if that
makes any difference. If its a load of hard work perhaps I'll leave
the brushed finish..........

Ta in advance

Pete


To shop polish you need a polishing head which is basically similar to
a bench grinder. You will need a number of buffing wheels ranging from
hard to soft and buffing compounds from coarse to fine.

Install a hard buffing wheel and charge it with coarse compound. Buff
out all the scratches from your belt sander.
Change to a slightly softer wheel and a finer compound and buff out
the marks from the first wheel.
Change to a slightly softer wheel and finer compound and buff out
marks from the preceding wheel.
Continue this cycle until you reach the finnish you desire.

This a simple explanation as there are a multitude of different wheels
and compounds for different metals and purposes. Brownell (the
gunsmith supplier) probably have a wealth of detailed information in
their catalog on polishing steel that will apply to your stainless.

By the way, the better polish you have on stainless the less chance
you have of those rust colored stains forming.



Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)