Polishing Stainless Steel??

Wills.WindowsAndWheels

Wills.WindowsAndWheels

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I was wondering if anyone here has some experience with stainless steel polishing.

I'm working on a boat and we just put on stainless steel railing on the bow...plus the prop is stainless as well as a lot of the trimmings. MOST of it i think i could get back with a straight polish (should i use the powerball min I have or stick with some 4" pads?)

The prop however has a few pad stains on it just from the water pressure against it...is there anyway to get these out (will m105 do it or is that a no no for stainless)? I've only got it here for a couple more days so hopefully someone can offer some suggestions?

Tried Brasso on the prop, it didnt put a dent in it.

I also grabbed a polishing wheel from Lowes that will fit an angle grinder or a drill...think this may be more appropriate?

Any and all help is welcome, ive never messed with STAINED stainless before lol:)
 
Stainless steel is pretty hard to mess up because it's very very hard to start with, it's also very hard to polish without the right chemicals.

I've worked on a lot of classic cars with stainless steel trim and have noticed by way of trying that aluminum polishes usually don't have much of an effect as far as taking something neglected and restoring it to look like chrome like you can actually do with aluminum.

Oley from Flitz was here recently and we tried his products out on stainless and they seem to work great at removing oxidation and staining from the heat shields on the huge Kodiak Truck we worked on, maybe look into some of their offerings.


Flitz Metal Polishes


:)
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
Stainless steel is pretty hard to mess up because it's very very hard to start with, it's also very hard to polish without the right chemicals.

I've worked on a lot of classic cars with stainless steel trim and have noticed by way of trying that aluminum polishes usually don't have much of an effect as far as taking something neglected and restoring it to look like chrome like you can actually do with aluminum.

Oley from Flitz was here recently and we tried his products out on stainless and they seem to work great at removing oxidation and staining from the heat shields on the huge Kodiak Truck we worked on, maybe look into some of their offerings.


Flitz Metal Polishes


:)
Click to expand...


Hmm yeah i think I remember watching that video of you doing those rims with him. Ill check that out (damn i wish you guys had a branch here where i could just walk in and buy what i need lol!)
 
I don't know where you are located but Ace Hardware here in Central PA carries Flitz Metal Polish.
 
I believe Collinite Metal Wax, Optimum Metal Polish, and P21S Metal Polishing Soap can be used on stainless steel as well if I'm not mistaken.
 
Steel wool is definately your best friend if polishing tarnished stainless steel by hand. I recently restored my stainless 3" exhaust on my car with some 000 steel wool and some Megs metal polish and it worked very well. If you are going for a mirror finish, you absolutely must use a machine as you will never get it no matter how long or hard you work it by hand. That is if you are working on the brushed look ss, not bright work. I used Megs Ultimate Compound to correct swirls in my exhaust tip as well as some staining in the ss piping before the tip and it worked very well by hand even though it took some passes with the yellow german applicator. Here are my results:

Before:

DSC_0001_363.jpg


After 3 hits:

DSC_0005_367.jpg
 
christian900se said:
Steel wool is definately your best friend if polishing tarnished stainless steel by hand. I recently restored my stainless 3" exhaust on my car with some 000 steel wool and some Megs metal polish and it worked very well. If you are going for a mirror finish, you absolutely must use a machine as you will never get it no matter how long or hard you work it by hand. That is if you are working on the brushed look ss, not bright work. I used Megs Ultimate Compound to correct swirls in my exhaust tip as well as some staining in the ss piping before the tip and it worked very well by hand even though it took some passes with the yellow german applicator. Here are my results:

Before:

DSC_0001_363.jpg


After 3 hits:

DSC_0005_367.jpg
Click to expand...

I thought about my 105 as possibly being able to cut thru the 'crud' if you will and bring back the color..then maybe a polish.

I checked Ace for the Flitz polish but no luck. Might give the 105 and some metal polish a go tomorrow...and if the 105 doesnt cut it ill use the 000 steel wool as you suggested. Does steel wool come in a drill or PC attachment or is that mainly by hand work?

BTW, nice work on the pipe:props:
 
Wills.WindowsAndWheels said:
I thought about my 105 as possibly being able to cut thru the 'crud' if you will and bring back the color..then maybe a polish.

I checked Ace for the Flitz polish but no luck. Might give the 105 and some metal polish a go tomorrow...and if the 105 doesnt cut it ill use the 000 steel wool as you suggested. Does steel wool come in a drill or PC attachment or is that mainly by hand work?

BTW, nice work on the pipe:props:
Click to expand...
It comes in a roll. Only way to use it is by hand.
 
Rsurfer said:
It comes in a roll. Only way to use it is by hand.
Click to expand...

Works for me, ive done most my work by hand lol...thou im getting spoiled with my PC now :)

how agressive were you with the steel wool....does the 105 smooth out any small scratches the steel wool may leave?
 
No matter what you use, be sure to do a little test spot first, make sure you're getting results you can live with before rubbing something over the entire surface.

I've been in a lot of car restoration shops where because a lot of classic cars have stainless steel trim the shops are set up for restoring stainless steel, most of the time they use a bench mounted electric motor that drives felt buffing pads.

Kind of like this,

p351.jpg


And use special buffing compounds that come in bricks like these,

p27270.jpg




I had my leg professionally polished by a Chrome Plating company that also offered car show quality metal polishing of any type of polishable metal. After they did the first polish job to take non-polished aluminum to show car quality finish it's just a matter of maintenance to keep it gleaming now.



:)
 
Wills.WindowsAndWheels said:
I thought about my 105 as possibly being able to cut thru the 'crud' if you will and bring back the color..then maybe a polish.

I checked Ace for the Flitz polish but no luck. Might give the 105 and some metal polish a go tomorrow...and if the 105 doesnt cut it ill use the 000 steel wool as you suggested. Does steel wool come in a drill or PC attachment or is that mainly by hand work?

BTW, nice work on the pipe:props:
Click to expand...

Thanks! Flitz is great stuff for removing tarnished stains and discoloration but it takes a while on stainless steel and you will never get a mirror finish. Steel wool is definately only used by hand but if you have a junk pad and a microfiber bonnet, you can use your PC to really get some shine going. Sorry to post more pictures, but this is what you can expect using 000 steel wool and Megs metal polish but I am not sure if the OP is looking to polish brushed look stainless:


Before:


DSC_0001_323.jpg




After 30 minutes:


DSC_0004_326.jpg

DSC_0007_329.jpg
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
No matter what you use, be sure to do a little test spot first, make sure you're getting results you can live with before rubbing something over the entire surface.

I've been in a lot of car restoration shops where because a lot of classic cars have stainless steel trim the shops are set up for restoring stainless steel, most of the time they use a bench mounted electric motor that drives felt buffing pads.

Kind of like this,

p351.jpg


And use special buffing compounds that come in bricks like these,

p27270.jpg




I had my leg professionally polished by a Chrome Plating company that also offered car show quality metal polishing of any type of polishable metal. After they did the first polish job to take non-polished aluminum to show car quality finish it's just a matter of maintenance to keep it gleaming now.



:)
Click to expand...

Geez Mike, is there anything you dont polish lol?

That felt wheel is like the one i bought from lowes the other day, accept its drill/angle grinder mounted...but its the same material...didnt come with any buffing compounds thou. I'm gonna see what i can do tonight.

To Christian...I like more pics so dont be sorry! Turned out really nice i see. I'm really not sure if this is brushed look or not...I'm guessing not as its just the tubing and connectors of some railing we put on our boat the other day...but ill take a closer look later. :)
 
Millennium said:
I like to use Never Dull on metal surfaces.

Valvoline%20208.jpg
Click to expand...

Ive seen that in walmart, wasnt sure how good of a polish it was. I grabbed a bottle of Collinite #850 with my last order from ADS over the weekend, gonna give it a shot as soon as I get a chance :)
 
I second Mike's suggestion. If you're looking for a mirror finish on old stainless, it's gonna be murder on your hands. If it's in bad shape or you have a lot to do, I would suggest a kit from somewhere like Eastwood's or Caswell Plating and buff it with either a drill (slowest, very hard on the bearings), a side grinder (better for hand held use but harder to control), or bench grinder (best of all but requires remove and replace trim) Buffing wheels and compounds come in different levels of cut so you can go from removing sanding scratches all the way to blinding mirror finish.
 
I'd opt for 0000. A little bit finer wool and easier on your surface IMO.
 
Yeah I fear to see the results of 000 wool rubbed enhtusiasticly on any shiney surface :)
 
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