[OP]
Member
I'm in my shop and I am cleaning tools and putting wax or other forms of rust inhibitors when it hits me "Wouldn't my chisels look great with a polish to match what I got when I put an edge on them. Anybody got a quick way to polish out my tools with a buffer or something so they have a mirror shine.
Last edited by Chuck Hart; 12-11-2014 at 4:42 AM.
Guest
Buffer. You can find a division of cut vs polish stick at mcmaster Carr. You can also work through a progression of abrasives if you want to preserve detail.
The cut compounds are fast enough that you can quickly sharpen very dull serrated knives with them.
Contributor
Chuck, Google for "deburring wheel". They come in a range of "grits". These can and will leave a mirror finish ... but beware - they will also round edges.
They are designed for high speed grinders, but I chuck them on my drill press.
Regards from Perth
Derek
Contributor
A buffing wheel on a grinder with fine grit. I have also used a Worksharp 2000 with felt wheel and green chromium oxide for small stuff.
A mirror Polish is more than cosmetic. It helps keep rust from forming. It doesn't prevent rust, but it makes rust harder to form on a surface compared to non-polished surfaces. It does, however, take a lot of time to polish a set of chisels.
Contributor
I try to keep a mirror shine on lower 1/2" of chisel backs. Beyond sharpening and rust deterrence it helps me see if the chisel is perpendicular to a line or an edge. If the line and it's mirror image are straight, the chisel is at 90 degrees.
I have a buffing wheel that I mount in the drill press and charge with the green compound to polish all sorts of things. It works pretty well, but a stiffer wheel would probably work better. I've even considered making an MDF wheel but I I'm sure how the edges would hold up.
I do polish my chisels a little but it's more for maintenance than aesthetics.
-- Dan Rode
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle
Member
Never BUFF your chisels. It will round off the edges. You will forever have rounded corners on the cutting edges of your chisels. If you must have mirror edges,lap the chisels against wet or dry paper stuck down to a flat surface. A granite machinists flat surface is the best,but a piece of thick float glass is good also. Or a piece of left over granite kitchen counter top. Keep using finer wet or dry down to 2000 grit,which you may have to order. Finish off with lapping against white automotive buffing compound put onto a piece of hardwood.
Hirsch chisels are buffed by experts,and they always have rounded edges. Yours won't even look that good. It looks cheap just to have highly polished surfaces with sluffed off corners anyway.
Contributor
I like my bevels polished. This often helps to see a knifed line with the reflection of light.
Some of my Craftsman chisels are mirror polished over the full surface. They seem to amplify every little nick or scratch. They likely looked good when new, but they are kind of ugly now.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Member
Flitz or Autosol polish and fine steel wool.
It will get a bright finish, without
turning edges. It will take some time
compared to a buffing wheel, but the
finish will last.
[OP]
Member
I have a buffing wheel, it's cotton. I guess I should try and load it up with gold or green compound. Maybe do a little on 1200-2000g sandpaper before I buff. I think I can bring out a shine if that works without rounding the chisel edge. I would hone and polish the edge after anyway. Thanks guys
Contributor
If you like the look of that polished edge and want that same appearance over the entire tool then you have a lot of work ahead of you. There isn't a shortcut to this. If there were we wouldn't have all the discussions about how to get the cutting edge just right.Originally Posted by Chuck Hart
Member
I try to ask as little as possible but this brings a question up for me, wouldn't the speed of a grinder move so fast it will toss off the compound on the wheel?
Member
No,most ordinary buffers run at 3450 RPM,or a bit more or less at that speed. Wax based buffing sticks will stay on the wheels,though they will throw a little off. Sooner or later an accumulation will be found on the bench or floor. Buffing isn't a very clean process.
I still do not recommend it. It would be better IF a buffer HAD to be used,to employ a hard felt wheel. But those can get grooves cut into them by things like narrow chisel blades.
By the way,buffing is DANGEROUS,and you can get killed in a buffer violently kicks a chisel into your body. It is a lot more dangerous than it looks,which makes buffing even MORE dangerous. Never hold a chisel edge UPWARDS against a wheel. Take this warning VERY SERIOUSLY. I have been kicked before by buffers before I got experienced with them.
Member
I could not have said that better.
Guest
I've never sent anything flying with a buffer (but I've used my buffer quite a bit to do things you normally don't do with it - just not tools), but on the same note, I have sent a plane iron flying when I was experimenting with disc sanders and leather on them to try to find a lazy man's way to hone. It was a 2 1/2" wide *sharp* plane iron and it went bouncing at a very high rate of speed and shut off the disc sander when it got caught...
... so how does that happen? On a disc sander, the motion pulls the iron toward the center and as soon as it crosses the center line quickly, it digs in, through the leather into the metal disc behind it, which gives it a great amount of grip to fling the iron....All you hear is a "bang!!"
Same with a hard buff, you'd never have time to even think about it.
The other thing about a buffer is that everything you buff gets hot on a hard buff, so you'd want to expect that.
Contributor
All these posts about buffing, and no one else has mentioned the deburring wheel.
As with a buffer, these will round over a corner. However, they are the go-to for polishing metal, de-rusting, and the like. They come in a range of grits, coarse to ultra fine. Look them up.
Regards from Perth
Derek
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote