How to polish a saw plate

[TobyC]

Todd O. Cronkhite said:

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[blockquote]Timberwolf said:

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...I use 600grit silicon carbide powder sometimes as a beginning abrasive

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.......and just where can this be obtained from Jack? What the Hades, I might as well throw a few more bucks into this rathole.

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http://www.littleredstore.com/store/rock...-grit-sic/

http://www.arrowheadlapidarysupply.com/c...p;prodpa=0

Toby

[Corneel]

Having polished loads of metal for cars and bikes, I should have known batter. There is no magic, just hard dirty work. Only when you have arrived at the polishing stage, the polishing tricks will do wonders. Before that, wonders are not from this world.

I have plenty of sawblades with black spots, that's oxidation of course, just not brown anymore. These don't disappear with the foil. The parts of the blade which were allready pretty clean, polish up nicely though.

[Todd O. Cronkhite]

Yup, I have to concur. As a rust removal technique this method is a FAIL IMO. Once the rust is removed with sandpaper, etc, etc, then it's not to bad of to polish your blade up a little bit, but even then I still think that there isn't enough of an improvement to spend the $ on a fancy polish. This is just my take after doing just a few saws, so nothing is carved in stone.

[Timberwolf]

Quote:

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.......and just where can this be obtained from Jack? What the Hades, I might as well throw a few more bucks into this rathole.

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You can get it at any rock shop or lapidary supply, Todd...sold by the pound in several grit sizes. I used 600, but would prefer 400 grit..Silicon Carbide is used for tumbling gemstones...if you cant find it locally, just google lapidary supplies.... it's cheap as dirt......Can use it on a leather pad as well but a metal pad works faster..

Could also use Aluminum Oxide grains..It actually resists crushing better than S.C. but may be more expensive.

[Todd O. Cronkhite]

Thanks Jack, I'll look into it!

I have a bunch of rusty and bent blades onwhich to practice before I get to the few really good saws I have collec, er, er, accumulated. hopefully my the time I get to them I'll have it down to a Art.

[Gregory of Sherwood Forest]

Little bump...

Anyone have more testing results to report?

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[Pedder]

Gregory of Sherwood Forest said:

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Little bump...

Anyone have more testing results to report?

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I tried on a few saws. I couldn't get the shiny finish with autosol and foil. But the usage of AL Foil turned out to be a great improvement when using loose grit. It is indeed the perfect grit holder.

And it forms a flat surface itself so I could be protecting etches?

Cheers
Pedder

[AHill]

I tried it this weekend on a couple of my No. 7's. While it did work, I didn't get the super mirror shine that the OP got. It did, however, provide a noticeable improvement over where I started. Didn't seem to harm the etch at all. Didn't do much for any of the pitting. Just removes surface stuff. Pics later.

Gregory of Sherwood Forest said:

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Little bump...

Anyone have more testing results to report?

.

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[LarryC]

I need to read this forum more often, this foil idea looks interesting. I'm curious though, have any of you tried electrolysis for removing rust? I've used it to clean the cast iron on some old table saws I've bought and it works pretty darn good for removing rust.

[Christian Castillo]

Thank you everyone for continuing to experiment, I understand some people get good results, some don't, but what I have gathered is that there is enough merit in this technique that it is definitely useful to have in the old bag of tricks and I like that other people are finding good use of aluminum as a grit holder and using loose grit, other compounds etc.

Electrolysis can be used, but I prefer not to. Electrolysis gives the metal a grayish color that must be abraded off, although some have mentioned that foil and polish do the trick. Regardless, with the work required to remove the grayish layer, you could have simply used that effort to remove the rust from the get go without the wait. Another reason I have read to avoid electrolysis on edge tools and springs is due to hydrogen embrittlement from the electrolysis process. The effects may be so miniscule as to not affect a thing but I'd rather err on the side of safety if I can get a plate rust-free easily without having to take on a risk. I only use electrolysis on non-edge bearing tools and objects.