Thread: Mirror polish

A bench grinder is about 40 bucks at Lowes, and they also sell buffing compund and buffing wheels.

I spend most of my time at sea so need to keep kit as portible as posible. Shaving can be a problem as you might imagine. I need to keep a cartrige razor handy for a, shaving my head (not brave enough to do the whole lot with a straight) b, to shave if we spend too much time in rough weather as i am rather attached to my facial features and want to stay that way

As some have pointed out, some skills are needed when working on tempered steel with power tools. If memory serves me right, if you decide to buy a grinder, you may want to buy one that has variable speed. I believe that the 3600 RPM grinders are not recommended for work on razors but please correct me if I am wrong. I just cannot remember the thread where I read this. The variable kind of grinder is a bit more expensive than the standard but not outrageous. Are there Lowes in Scotland?

Al raz.

Originally Posted by Ditch Doc

A bench grinder is about 40 bucks at Lowes, and they also sell buffing compund and buffing wheels.

i would be careful with a bench grinder i use one to polish my chrome and aluminun parts for my quad and they heat the metal very quickly and i would be afraid of the huge wheel grabbing the blade i would look for a low rpm bench grinder or a speciatlity motor for that i found this though Low rpm electric motor On GlobalSpec
they make all speeds. i might get one of these my self for future projects

Not heard of Lowes no but we have places like B&Q that sell simular stuff. If been warned to ve very careful even with just my 12v dremel, the restorations are just something to keep my occupied and quench my razor adiction when Im offshore for two months at a time

As some have pointed out, some skills are needed when working on tempered steel with power tools. If memory serves me right, if you decide to buy a grinder, you may want to buy one that has variable speed. I believe that the 3600 RPM grinders are not recommended for work on razors but please correct me if I am wrong. I just cannot remember the thread where I read this. The variable kind of grinder is a bit more expensive than the standard but not outrageous. Are there Lowes in Scotland?

Al raz.

One thing that I didn't see mentioned was what kind of wheel was used to take off the rust and tarnish.
If you you used the grinding wheel or the sanding drum you have pretty deep scratches that will not be removed by any amount of polishing compound.

What dremel tool did you use? That info would help us to direct you to the next step.

Its just a 12v mini for arts and crafts mainly. I used a copper brush weel to get the rust and tarnish off as it was not that heavily ingrained. Still looking for info on how to achieve a satin finish without it looking...well crappy!

you may have to do the final touches by hand so you will know how much pressure you are using

Where else can a guy (or gal) get so much feedback.
If it's too hard to find abrasives ,I had good luck w/ buffing compound from an auto shop,it's even in supermarkets. It will do no harm in that it is made to take off the oxidized layer from paint.
Al