Want a Mirror Finish on My Tools

[Chuck Hart]

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.

[David Weaver]

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.

[Derek Cohen]

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

[Malcolm Schweizer]

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.

[Daniel Rode]

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.

[george wilson]

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.

[Jim Koepke]

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

[Jim Matthews]

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.

[Chuck Hart]

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

[Pat Barry]

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.
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.

[maximillian arango]

A buffing wheel on a grinder with fine grit.


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?

[george wilson]

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.

[Jim Matthews]

I could not have said that better.

[David Weaver]

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.

[Derek Cohen]

All these posts about buffing, and no one else has mentioned the deburring wheel.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61pcR64u7BL.jpg

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

[David Weaver]

Presume those are like scotchbrite? Like a plastic matrix with abrasive in it?

[Pat Barry]

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.
It would be OK to have the chisel held downward angle though, right? So that the brushing action is from the body toward the tip. Of course this would tend to dub the cutting edge if not careful.

[george wilson]

Yes,always hold downwards any edge that could be grabbed by the wheel. When you are buffing the socket end,hold it downwards too. However,I still don't advocate buffing. You just can't keep a crisp surface by buffing. Corners get dubbed over,including the corners of bevels.

[Tom M King]

I think it's Golfworks that sells some pretty interesting wheels, as well as sanding belts, for polishing metal on golf club heads. I've polished the tops of chisels on a 10" buffer, but the backs, and little edges that meet the back, are quickly polished on diamond lapping film if you flatten them on some thing else to the point that you can start on the lapping film. I usually just polish the cutting edge of the back, no more than is comfortable to hold on the lapping film on a plate, and it does an amazingly fast job with that.

http://www.golfworks.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_EXLM_A_3M+Scotchbrite+EXL+Finis hing+Wheel_A_c2p_E_cs

[Jim Koepke]

Amazing, there was a golf club bending machine on that site:


http://www.golfworks.com/product.asp...eel_A_c2p_E_cs

They want about $1300 for that thing.

When I was a caddy, most golfers just used a tree or their knee to bend their golf clubs...

jtk

[Tom M King]

Mine is one of the old ones, that works great, but doesn't look as fancy as the newer ones. I bought it off of Craigslist.

[Tom Vanzant]

Amazing, there was a golf club bending machine on that site:




When I was a caddy, most golfers just used a tree or their knee to bend their golf clubs...

jtk

Tommy Bolt would just tie it in a knot and throw it in the water hazard.

[Bill Houghton]

Amazing, there was a golf club bending machine on that site:

When I was a caddy, most golfers just used a tree or their knee to bend their golf clubs...

jtk

Just another example of the death of hand skills. Everybody's gotta have power tools now to do the slightest little thing.

[Tom M King]

The bending is done by hand. A "machine" is really just a fancy clamp, that holds the head in exact position, without damaging it, and it has a couple of devices to measure angles. The bending is done by hand with a bar that fits on the hosel of the club head. The "machine" just tells you what the starting point is, and shows you where you end up. It does require a bit of hand skill. The club has to be strong enough to be able to hit a ball well over 100 mph and not bend, but still be bendable with one of these "machines" to fit an individuals physique and swing. It takes quite a bit of force to bend one, but still takes fine control to not bend it too much, and be able to stop at the right half degree.

[Derek Cohen]

Presume those are like scotchbrite? Like a plastic matrix with abrasive in it?

Hi Dave

Possibly a plastic base. Not sure. When I think Scotchbrite I think a coarse brown-red wheel used for paint removal. The deburring wheels are not at all like that. There are a wide range of grits and degrees of hardness, much like a grinding wheel. Softer is best at the finest level as it will conform better to the existing surface.

They really work well. The ultra fine ones will take rust off and leave a mirror finish. I use these wheels a lot, and have done so for many years. They are fantastic for nuts and bolts, smoothing and polishing screw and bolt heads, round shafts, etc. I would avoid using them on the back of a chisel - that should always be lapped by hand on a flat surface - however I will remove spots of rust with a judicious touch.

Again, I am surprised that no one else here has mentioned them with the enthusiasm I have. You must rsearch them and purchase a couple. It is possible to find sellers on eBay who are getting rid of wheels when they reach a certain size. For example, they sell their 10" wheel when it reaches 8". I bought a bunch cheaply this way many years ago.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Tom M King]

http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/629883O/3m-scotch-brite-surface-conditioning-wheels.pdf?fn=Surface%20Conditioning%20Wheels.pdf

[Bill Houghton]

The bending is done by hand. A "machine" is really just a fancy clamp, that holds the head in exact position, without damaging it, and it has a couple of devices to measure angles. The bending is done by hand with a bar that fits on the hosel of the club head. The "machine" just tells you what the starting point is, and shows you where you end up. It does require a bit of hand skill. The club has to be strong enough to be able to hit a ball well over 100 mph and not bend, but still be bendable with one of these "machines" to fit an individuals physique and swing. It takes quite a bit of force to bend one, but still takes fine control to not bend it too much, and be able to stop at the right half degree.

Every day I learn something new. My first lesson today is vocabulary; I'd never heard the term "hosel" before. Now I have to figure out how to use it in a sentence today, when no one in my family or my immediate circle of friends plays golf.

[Pat Barry]

It takes quite a bit of force to bend one, but still takes fine control to not bend it too much, and be able to stop at the right half degree.
Yes - does. I have tried to straighten a putter of mine using my workbench and length of pipe but it takes so much force I'm afraid that I'll break the darn thing. I think if I torch it with my propane torch and then bend it the job will be a lot less stressful. I don't want to break a $150 putter

[Tom M King]

Yes - does. I have tried to straighten a putter of mine using my workbench and length of pipe but it takes so much force I'm afraid that I'll break the darn thing. I think if I torch it with my propane torch and then bend it the job will be a lot less stressful. I don't want to break a $150 putter


Dick's Sporting Goods stores have a putter bending machine in the store in the golf section. A putter won't fit in the clamp in a regular club bending machine. The last time I was in one of those stores, they got 15 bucks to bend a putter like you want it. You can keep playing with it in the store until you get it like you want it at address for the one fee.

I wouldn't heat it to bend it. The epoxy holding the shaft on the head will melt. It needs to be a pretty precise bend. If you bend it one way, without the bending machine, it will probably also change in the other plane. Some putters can't be bent, without bending the shaft, because they don't have a hosel.

A putter bends a lot easier than an iron, especially a cast iron, so it takes less skill in the feel needed for using the bending "machine".

[Pat Barry]

Dick's Sporting Goods stores have a putter bending machine in the store in the golf section. A putter won't fit in the clamp in a regular club bending machine. The last time I was in one of those stores, they got 15 bucks to bend a putter like you want it. You can keep playing with it in the store until you get it like you want it at address for the one fee.

I wouldn't heat it to bend it. The epoxy holding the shaft on the head will melt. It needs to be a pretty precise bend. If you bend it one way, without the bending machine, it will probably also change in the other plane. Some putters can't be bent, without bending the shaft, because they don't have a hosel.

A putter bends a lot easier than an iron, especially a cast iron, so it takes less skill in the feel needed for using the bending "machine".
Thanks for the tip Tom. I'll go check that out