I have a wonderful Filarmonica that has some rust stain that I begun to restore. I have used some kind of coarse meshed rubber wheel to remove the rust and then gave the blade a polishing with the white cotton polishing tools and the red paste. This gives the blade a nice silvery shine. What dremel tool would I have to use for that mirror finish?
Razor restoration with a dremel?
- Thread starter Thomas Martin
- Start date
A Dremel can do many things but if this is your first time at this I'd proceed with caution. Youcan use the felt pads with polishing compounds and I'm sure it'll get you close but a true buffer will do the job much better. For a true 'Mirror Finish" the majority of the time is spent sanding,,,not polishing , in my opinion. If all the scratches aren't removed let alone the rust etc. you'll get a shiny piece but not a mirror finish.
Me too! It was my first attempt at buffing a razor with a Dremel & this was the result. ALWAYS pay att'n to which way the wheel is turning!!
It's already been said above, watch the direction of the wheel. It should always,let me repeat that, ALWAYS rotate spine to edge. Other \wise you get chips in the blade and sharp flying metal chunks. I hand polish using mothers mag and aluminum polish to get a mirror finish, it's available at about any store that has an automotive isle. Also, like mycarver mentioned, make sure you have removed all the scratches via sanding before you start polishing, otherwise the scratches will really stand out. I learned this the hard way 
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Put the Dremel down and back away slowly. The first shorty I ever made had to become a shorty due to Dremel negligence. They can kill a good blade faster than you can blink.
I'm new here but I work with brass and nickle instruments and make them all pretty. A wire brush will take off the heavier rust, I would then use Silicone disks you can get from rio grande or
http://www.musicmedic.com/catalog/products/abra-w100.html
The white will shape even steel, the black will create divots after a second and may be used to aggressively wear down pitting, be very careful with either of these! The blue will round the edges of the pitting so they will be a little less noticeable and feel smoother. The pink will give you a great shine!
The key is in your technique, always wear safety glasses, you only get two eyes! Pay attention to which direction the wheel is spinning and always have the contact point moving toward the edge. You want it to push away if something catches not pull itself into the edge. Also remember you can't put material back on so all you can do is thin it to an even thickness. Every time you touch the edge you will cause a small ripple that will require sharpening everything else back to that level. It would be helpful to hold the blade against a rubber mat to make sure you aren't working the edge as much as possible, in fact you should try to keep a 1/32 of an inch border away from the edge since sharpening will undo a lot of polishing.
I would advise starting with the blue disks to get an EVEN shine then move on the the pink again, until it's EVEN. There will be some ripples in the light that you will see because you are using such a small tool. Next use a polish like Wenol. you should get a wonderful shine even with a bit of pitting.
riFph
http://www.musicmedic.com/catalog/products/abra-w100.html
The white will shape even steel, the black will create divots after a second and may be used to aggressively wear down pitting, be very careful with either of these! The blue will round the edges of the pitting so they will be a little less noticeable and feel smoother. The pink will give you a great shine!
The key is in your technique, always wear safety glasses, you only get two eyes! Pay attention to which direction the wheel is spinning and always have the contact point moving toward the edge. You want it to push away if something catches not pull itself into the edge. Also remember you can't put material back on so all you can do is thin it to an even thickness. Every time you touch the edge you will cause a small ripple that will require sharpening everything else back to that level. It would be helpful to hold the blade against a rubber mat to make sure you aren't working the edge as much as possible, in fact you should try to keep a 1/32 of an inch border away from the edge since sharpening will undo a lot of polishing.
I would advise starting with the blue disks to get an EVEN shine then move on the the pink again, until it's EVEN. There will be some ripples in the light that you will see because you are using such a small tool. Next use a polish like Wenol. you should get a wonderful shine even with a bit of pitting.
riFph
Very interesting... my father is a luthier I should have thought to ask him. This is the first time I have seen these and I may need to give them a shot for another project.
I am making a request for a step by step restoration write up right now, Please? I would like to see what these do.
Oh yeah, Dremels may not be a waste of time but they can sure be a waste of money, parts, accessories, and $100 dollar blades. I have Yet to find a dremel tool that has made a restore any easier for me. Most of the time it ends in "Crap! That's not what I wanted! Now I need to fix that, dang darn #*%@!"
