The Armour Archive

All,

I am looking at putting a mirror finish on my mild steel basinet.

what might be the best way to go about this?
what tools would I need?
what compounds will I need?

Thank you all for your help.

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Malcolm MacRobert de Moffat, of the Barony of Caer Mear, Kingdom of Atlantia: Sole Squire to Sir Edward Tanner of Cambria, and Captain of the Black Company

Malcom,

You'll need access to at least a buffer or a grinder you can mount 8" sewn muslin buffing wheels and sanding disks to.

First you'll want the helm bare. Take off everything including face plate/grill, verveilles, liner, mounting hardware etc..

Sand the surface with 220 grit, sanding evenly. Move from there to 320 grit and keep going untill all 220 grit scratches are blended away. Move to 400 grit and sand untill all 320 grit scratches are blended away.

Mount the buffing wheel and charge it with 800 grit green chromium compound, buff evenly untill it looks like a cloudy mirror.

Clean off the residual compound with wd-40 and a rag. Mount a fresh muslin wheel and buff with 1200 grit non coloring white chromium to mirror.

NEVER mix coumpounds on wheels. When done store them in the big ziplock freezer bags with the compound blocks or tubes to keep them clean & fresh.

If you've never worked with a buffer before get someone to show you how to do so safely before you start. It's the #1 most dangerous shop tool, capable of grabbing what your holding away from you and launching it at high velocity back into you or simply pulling you into itself.

I was about to post, but the previous post is all you need.
Although i go from 220 belt to emery paste on a sisal buff befor i move onto the finer compounds.

This seems to be a pretty good article, perhaps the experts could critique it.
http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/buffman.htm?PHPSESSID=c56578f29e56f44375ee295f6dc42043

Nice web page. I do not use a saw blade to clean my wheels.
I use a broken fire brick.

Yes I agree about the danger.

On some pieces I will sit down and wet hand sand it to 400 grit, then hit with 3 compounds on the buffer motor.

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Happy metal pounding

A bladesmith gave me some hints at the store while I was buying buffing compound. He suggested using an inside out sanding belt as a buffer. It works fairly well in the early satiny phases, not so well for buffing to a mirror finish.