On Fri, 29 Jul 2011 08:39:48 -0400, "Flying Pig"
wrote:

Hi, Bruce, and other readers worldwide (I wonder how many there actually are
besides the anonymous knee-jerk Neal-bashers, "Wilbur", Cavelamb, you and a
couple of others - even "Bob" hasn't fired a shot in a while, and Roger's
off cruising - a quickie "here I am" response would shed some light on the
question...),

I'm amazed at what you are saying. "Most Stainless Guys" use a 4 inch
angle grinder with a selection of "flap" wheels in various grits and
then a series of felt buffing wheels with at least two abrasives
(rouge being the coarest). The real serious people use dedicated hand
held polishers. 12 ft of rail is hardly a day's work :-)

I have done some flap-wheel prep on mill-finish work, and that particular
set of SS (became the brackets to our stern platform) STILL has the
scratches.

Then you were either: (1) Using the wrong technique, or (2) using the
wrong wheels. I use flap wheels on a 6 inch bench grinder as a first
step in a polishing program. I got this idea from the local chrome
plating shop.

Doing what I had on a bench grinder (other than the cloth steps, which,
indeed, is what he used for the final brilliant level, albeit with a 10"
post-mounted one, open, allowing more access) and flap wheels (wait! - are
you speaking of radial flaps, or horizontal flaps? I've never seen radial
flaps for a grinder) would have been very challenging.


I probably wasn't making myself clear (I frequently don't :-) I was
pointing out that I used a "flap wheel" as a first step in polishing
stainless - or other metals, in response to your post that flap wheel
work leaves scratches.


Otherwise, the sequence of what I was doing is as you describe -
80/120/220/320/400 grit with an air 6" DA, then (the guy who's doing the
welding was kind enough to let me do the polishing to that point) the
shop's
10" wheel and rouge/finer takes over from there.

Just how bad is your stainless? I would use 80 grit as a first step
from rough metal, or as a fine grinding wheel, for example to radius a
corner weld.

The stuff was mill finish - an even gray (if you discount the dings and the
relatively straight lines in some cases). I have lots of pix of the
process, but have not yet processed them or put them up on my gallery, but
that WILL happen, under a "new material" section of the anchor system repair
in the 2011 refit gallery.

I'm not sure what you are referring to here. On one hand you talk
about what appears to be stainless tubing - rails, arches, etc., which
I would have assumed would have been built of polished stainless
tubing and only the joins needing polishing. On the other hand you
talk about "mill finish" which I would assume would be a reference to
something manufactured from flat rolled plate..... although I've never
seen anything intended for a boat that wasn't a polished finish.

The stuff on the boat wasn't bad at all - but it wasn't very accessible,
making polishing (well, still sanding, not yet to the cloth stage) a bit
challenging. I think I'm at the 220 stage there, but as I've been busy
doing other things at the moment, don't remember what grade is still stuck
to my Makita :{))


Despite what you say, avoiding flats and dishes on a round item,
particularly one without a large radius, is hard enough with a wide wheel,
let alone a small one. The stuff I'd done with flap wheel was flat, MUCH
easier to get it all - but it still left scratches after some very
aggressive polishing after the flapwheels.

Here, I'm referring to 4.5" disks with layered sanding surfaces. If I'd had
(never seen them, other than for drill-mount...) radial flaps, it probably
would have made a difference...

Yes, that is a common type of "flap disk" and depending on how many
layers there and how closely they are inter-leaved they have
significant differences in stiffness and thus gouge making ability.
there are also some that are made with strips of abrasive cloth
mounted at a 90 degree to the shaft of the mounting hole that are much
softer and less likely to make "strange marks".


"Teak" is supposed to be one species of tropical hardwood but it seems
to vary a rather large amount in both density and color from place to
place. But as a general statement it is not either a very hard or
heavy wood - it is actually a species of tropical birch, at least not
in comparison to other tropical hardwoods. You can indent teak with
your thumbnail, for example. If you have been around it you can even
identify it by smell.

Indeed. When I'm scavenging, I cut a little with my knife and give it a
sniff before I take it.


But for boat use it's major strong point is that it is a very oily
wood and lasts well if exposed, as in a deck, nor do bugs eat it. For
interior trim it has no particular virtue - unless you have termites
on board :-)

:{)) None yet! But it sure is pretty when it's varnished!

L8R

Skip, on to trying to figure out why my fishfinder will power up, but not
again unless I remove the power lead after shutting it down, and tackling
the refrigeration
Cheers,

Bruce