The Armour Archive

What does everyone use to polish mild steel to a mirror finish? I have tried using emory and tripoli on a bufing wheel and neither will get the mirror finish I want. The tripoli works great for aluminum and stainless, but I want that same look on mild.

To be a little clearer, after I sand down the surfaces of my helmets, they have a shiny surface, but not the smooth surface needed to prevent rust. The small scratches are still there and I want a smooth surface.

Please providde specific products so that I can order them. Thanks!

What is your final sanding grit befor you move to the emery wheel? I sand to a 600 grit finish befor moving to the polishing stages.

PaulyP... How the hell are ya buddy? Well i got your solution right here.

You'll need some of these. http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/sscw.htm

And some of these. http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/loose.htm

And this.
http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/expander.htm get the kit.

And these.
http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/buffing.htm
The black white and blue. Also the greaseless compounds at the bottom are quite nice to have also. The kit.

you may not need the expander wheel but they do come in handy.

I think folks like Massa G use rouge impregnated wheels

I can't ever find em here.

What's up Landen? Where are you now?

I have the buffing wheels both spiral sewn and loose and all of the buffing compounds available at Caswell-Massey.

I usually use a very worn down 250 grit sanding disk on an agle grinder for my final sanding, so not really sure of the final sanding. Maybe this is my problem?

Anyone else have an ideas?

PaulyP,

Still living in Little Rock.

About your polishing problems. Do you have a 3/4 horse or higher bench grinder?

Here is what I do.

Spiral sewn wheel w/ 80 grit greaseless compound to get rid of planishing marks. Move in only one direction, 90 degrees to the piece.

Then use spiral sewn wheel w/ 120 grit greaseless. Move 90 degrees to the last direction of the 80 grit.

Move to the 240 greaseless, 90 degrees to the 120 grit. Then 400 greaseless, 90 degrees to the 240.

Then use a loose wheel with white rouge, then loose wheel with blue rouge. If marks are still there after the white rouge back down to the black rouge. then white, then blue. The blue provides no cutting action at all and is only color.

I can come by and show you anytime on the weekend. But i am pretty sure you can figure it out. This is the way i get an ultra-mirror shine, it looks like liquid metal.

Polishing is the bane of armouring.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by James C:
<B>PaulyP... How the hell are ya buddy? Well i got your solution right here.

You'll need some of these. http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/sscw.htm

And some of these. http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/loose.htm

And this.
http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/expander.htm get the kit.

And these.
http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/buffing.htm
The black white and blue. Also the greaseless compounds at the bottom are quite nice to have also. The kit.

you may not need the expander wheel but they do come in handy.</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

James, do you use the blue after the white? How much better does it make it look?

I generally think it makes the items look too shiney. It looks more like chrome than steel.