Polishing Stainless Steel

Polishing stainless steel is the best way to give a great finish to anything made of stainless steel. There is a finesse to polishing stainless steel that can be quite easily acquired.

There are several different types of finishes that can be achieved when polishing stainless steel. The most commonly achieved ones are the number four finishes. This finish comes from a mill that has a grained texture to it. It is easy to mimic as long as you have the proper finishing tools.

The place to start when polishing stainless steel is to obtain the right tools for the job. The first thing needed is a grinder with variable speeds, with either a pneumatic or drum wheel. You will also need a die grinder that has different carbide burrs. A finger file, which is a miniature, portable belt sander, will also be needed. These basic tools can help anyone get a good finish through polishing stainless steel.

Let's imagine that there is a stainless steel sink that has been put into a table. To be able to finish the inside weld in a corner, it first needs to be smoothed out. The first step is to use the die grinder along with a small, round carbide burr on it and lightly shape the weld. The aim is to take out ever so slight amounts of material in order to make it smooth. The edges of the weld need some special attention because as you grind them you will see that a line forms, which needs to be blended in so that it cannot be seen. In order to achieve this, put very slight pressure on the bit while using a low rotations per minute.

After shaping it to the point where the edges of the weld can't be seen and there aren't any ripples present, switch to the cartridge roll. This is essentially a roll of sandpaper, which has been rolled into a cone and held together with glue. It needs to be screwed onto an arbor. Use the 120 grit to smooth out any roughness from the carbide burr and also to blend it in. After using the cartridge rolls on the weld, it should start looking pretty good, and should be smooth and not have any gouges in the base metal of the stainless steel.

Next, you need to use a fresh cartridge roll along with a fine Scotch Brite pad. Tear off a little bit of the pad and wrap it around the cartridge roll. This can now be used to blend in the edges of the weld and gives it a nice polish.

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