Hand Polishing Stainless Steel after Cermark

[Bruce Clumpner]

Hi,
I'm looking for some advise on a Cermark project.

I've got 10 sheets of polished stainless plate that I'm using Cermark to engrave some floorplans. Unfortunately in cleaning off the cermark, I've scratched the mirror finish and need to figure out how to polish them out. The scratches are very light, but very obvious with the mirror finish.

I've tried polishing compound, but it's too course. Tried Novus #2 plastic polish, but it's not strong enough. Don't have a buffing wheel, but scared to try it even if I did.

Can anyone suggest a hand polishing compound or technique that might work to bring back the mirror finish without affecting the Cermark image?

Thanks.

[Keith Winter]

Hi,
I'm looking for some advise on a Cermark project.

I've got 10 sheets of polished stainless plate that I'm using Cermark to engrave some floorplans. Unfortunately in cleaning off the cermark, I've scratched the mirror finish and need to figure out how to polish them out. The scratches are very light, but very obvious with the mirror finish.

I've tried polishing compound, but it's too course. Tried Novus #2 plastic polish, but it's not strong enough. Don't have a buffing wheel, but scared to try it even if I did.

Can anyone suggest a hand polishing compound or technique that might work to bring back the mirror finish without affecting the Cermark image?

Thanks.

That's the issue with polished stainless we encounter as well. Everything we have tried scratches the surface further, a Buffing wheel might introduce a lot of mini scratches giving the effect of a consistent surface, in essence hiding your scratches but it will not itself remove the scratch. Interested to hear what others have used to fix this on polished stainless.

[Kev Williams]

I got nothing, I'm afraid. You must treat polished SS with more care than butterfly wings...
I've been engraving mirror finished switchplates for years, and if there's even the teensy-est scratch (regardless of its origin) they throw it out and I do another one.

That all said-- do you know any knife-makers? If anyone knows how to polish stainless, they do!

[Bruce Clumpner]

Guess I'll give Novus #3 a try and see if I get anywhere... Looks like I'll need to go back to the customer and figure this out.. The only saving grace is that they are meant to be mounted outside, and they expect them to oxidize, so it may not matter...

Thanks for the input.

I got nothing, I'm afraid. You must treat polished SS with more care than butterfly wings...
I've been engraving mirror finished switchplates for years, and if there's even the teensy-est scratch (regardless of its origin) they throw it out and I do another one.

That all said-- do you know any knife-makers? If anyone knows how to polish stainless, they do!

[Scott Shepherd]

It's going to take buffing and a rouge. Novus isn't going to cut it.

[Kev Williams]

Nope, I'm afraid it'll take a little more than Novus!

Today one of my new knife customers came back with a knife I did Friday-- He had me spell "Laurie" wrong...

This is my evidence that a 40w C02 laser beam hitting a cermark-coated ss knife blade will actually 'engrave' the metal!

He was miles from his power equipment when he found out (grandaughter I think) so he spent a couple of hours with some rouge, sandpaper and his fingers attempting to remove the name...
As you can see, the name is still quite visible, and so are the first grit's sanding marks, which doesn't bode well for this discussion I'm afraid!
(although his normal tools would have done a much better job!)

[Mike Null]

I have run into the situation where i have to remove Cermark which for one reason or another wouldn't pass inspection. I use a fine grit sandpaper (which scratches the the item) Scotch bright abrasives and emery cloth. I have been able to restore the gloss so that what I did isn't noticeable----but I am working with an area of less than 2 square inches.

[Bruce Clumpner]

Just showed the client the plates and we're OK! Whew! The signs will be mounted outside and must be legible from 5-feet away, so at that distance nothing shows but the marking.

Thanks everyone for your input!

On thing that came out of this is I found a cheap source for Novus Polish! Can you believe The Container Store? 8oz. #1@$3.99, #2@5.99 & #3@ $6.99 Way cheaper than my acrylic supplier...

[Chris J Anderson]

The other thing that we don't tend to think of, is that even though we use a very fine polishing medium, usually we don't use anywhere near good enough quality 'rags'.

The rag sometimes does more damage itself,,,

[Hilton Lister]

The best you can do is to get the fine scratches running all the same way. I have had some success with diamond grit paste on a polishing mop. but the same still applies. I have a friend who works in the stainless steel fabricating industry and they use a diminishing series of carborundum grit and wax to achieve a mirror finish. The amount of wax in the final finish is the reason it is sometimes difficult to get cermark to adhere properly.