In a recent thread I covered the re-manufacturing of the stancnions and rails on our boat. I thought others might find the mirror polishing part of the process of some interest. A week ago a friend collided with our shiny freshly-polished bow rail in a docking situation. There was a lot of current and he has a new-to-him boat that is bigger than he is used to... and Stuff Happens.
No big dents, but a serrated scrape about two feet long on the middle rail. (It was a glancing blow from a stern rail on the other boat.)
Our metal fab guy is really busy now but could do the work quickest if I brought the boat over to his dock. It is kind of a scenic trip, involves opening two bridges, and takes over an hour. This drastically reduced the cost to me, and secondarily, to my boating buddy who is reimbursing me.
I learned a bit about polishing SS while John was setting up. He puts on a "number 8" or mirror finish. Most boat builders spec out a #7 level and then usually electro-polish the surface. He speculates that ours started out this way, once upon a time.
Getting it back to the mirror finish, even for removing a scratch, is a (minimum) four part process, involving more than one grade of rouge and a shaped buffing sheel on the grinder body. He has been doing this, along with all sorts of welding and fab work, for over 25 years.
When done, there were only some very subtle little dimples from the crash that no one will notice...
There are limits to what can be done with polishing...
It is interesting to watch a journeyman at work!
Loren
No big dents, but a serrated scrape about two feet long on the middle rail. (It was a glancing blow from a stern rail on the other boat.)
Our metal fab guy is really busy now but could do the work quickest if I brought the boat over to his dock. It is kind of a scenic trip, involves opening two bridges, and takes over an hour. This drastically reduced the cost to me, and secondarily, to my boating buddy who is reimbursing me.
I learned a bit about polishing SS while John was setting up. He puts on a "number 8" or mirror finish. Most boat builders spec out a #7 level and then usually electro-polish the surface. He speculates that ours started out this way, once upon a time.
Getting it back to the mirror finish, even for removing a scratch, is a (minimum) four part process, involving more than one grade of rouge and a shaped buffing sheel on the grinder body. He has been doing this, along with all sorts of welding and fab work, for over 25 years.
When done, there were only some very subtle little dimples from the crash that no one will notice...
There are limits to what can be done with polishing...
It is interesting to watch a journeyman at work!
Loren
Attachments
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re polishing bow rail.jpg -
Re Polishing-the-rail.jpg -
Starting to work on pulpit.jpg
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