Polished ash ring

[Peaspurple]

That's a shine right there.

[AZ_MIKEY]

Looks great Mikey, what do you do for work?

Gummi , thanks. I work as an ambulance/fire truck mechanic and my previous work I worked as a welder fabricator working with stainless steel in food processing And manufacturing. At my current job I am tasked with all repairs of emergency response vehicles from mechanical to fabrication of parts.

[AZ_MIKEY]

That looks incredible.............process please...............PLEASE...................

I posted my process towards the beginning of this thread. Basically sand to a very smooth finish keeping the grain all going same direction and then lightly use a very soft scuff/buff pad by hand then use a buffing/polishing cloth wheel with some metal polish rouge and keep stepping it up till desired sheen/polish is achieved.

[pbe gummi bear]

How long does it take you, Mikey?

[Craig]

That ash ring shines like a mirror! Nice job!

[AZ_MIKEY]

I worked on this ring off and on over a 3 days as I had time. I guess it probably took about 2.5 hours total. But keep in mind that it was in pretty rough shape so alot of sanding. A new one probably take maybe an hour.

[Kilted_Griller]

Mikey, that is AWESOME!! Did you use a power sander or did you hand sand it?

[AZ_MIKEY]

Used a combination of air power tools and by hand

[Bluesman]

When you say ti work with the grain, does this mean the grain runs parallel to the perimeter or up and down the ring from top to bottom. And can you identify the grain direction when sanding. I want to do my rings, and the top of my SS Performer. I understand how you did it, just don't want to go the wrong way only to have to fix it by starting over. Thanks

[AZ_MIKEY]

When you say ti work with the grain, does this mean the grain runs parallel to the perimeter or up and down the ring from top to bottom. And can you identify the grain direction when sanding. I want to do my rings, and the top of my SS Performer. I understand how you did it, just don't want to go the wrong way only to have to fix it by starting over. Thanks

Bluesman, by the grain I mean the way the lines are already going they are very light and fine but there go with them. They should be parallel to the perimeter. Now to get the mirror finish I would recommend using a buffing wheel setup on a bench grinder or something like that. As for the stainless top surface it will take more work to get those to a mirror finish as it is a harder metal.  As far as the aluminum ash ring and pot, when you polish them you need to remember is that they have an annealing on them that protect the metal from the elements and other things. So with that in mind you will either have to polish it again from time to time or find a way to protect it. I don't worry to much about mine as I live in the dry desert and will be keeping my grill in the garage.

[pbe gummi bear]

I used to polish a lot of aluminum bike parts and yes, they do get hazy and oxidized over time but it still looks better than the standard finish. Getting it mirror shiny again is easy with a polishing compound and a rag. Since the ash catcher doesn't get handled much, the polished finish should last forever.

[Bluesman]

Thanks. Many years ago I had some SS polished to a mirror finish. The guy gave me two wheels and two sticks of compound. The sticks were about 1" or so square x 6" long, and a bit hard, one white and the other light green, One of the wheels was a soft cloth flap and the other a red fiber wheel like a scotch brite. I lost the instructions, but I think the green is more aggressive and goes with the the fiber wheel, the white is more for finish polishing and goes on the cloth flap wheel. Does this sound right?

[AZ_MIKEY]

Thanks. Many years ago I had some SS polished to a mirror finish. The guy gave me two wheels and two sticks of compound. The sticks were about 1" or so square x 6" long, and a bit hard, one white and the other light green, One of the wheels was a soft cloth flap and the other a red fiber wheel like a scotch brite. I lost the instructions, but I think the green is more aggressive and goes with the the fiber wheel, the white is more for finish polishing and goes on the cloth flap wheel. Does this sound right?

The sticks are called rouge and are the compound you put on the cloth wheels. The scotch brite one is to be used by itself before the cloth wheels and compound. If the ring isn't that scratched up you should be able to use the scotch brite one first without sanding and the use the cloth one with a brown rouge and then finishing with the white and if wanted using  jewelers rouge to get a really high polish. There are different cloth wheels also some softer and some harder. Read alittle about it online and it will all make more sense. More than what I can write here in this space. As for the green stick(rouge) it is hard to say what it is for. Example is I have brown/ red that is for ferrous and non ferrous metals and is usually used as the first rouge in the polishing process, then I have white which is next to bring a mirror luster like shine then my brown jewelers rouge for a deep mirror smooth finish . The point is that manufacturers sometimes don't all use the same color for the same rouge of the same purpose.

[OGlenn]

Very cool!  I use buffing wheels to polish the straight razors I collect, but never considered polishing the aluminum ash ring... I like!

[zavod44]

Looks really great.  As someone who polishes aluminum for a living I can appreciate the effort.  One thing I would mention to any would be polishers.  Using a wheel to polish something takes a little bit of practice.  You can make things absolutely look like a mirror, but you can also destroy something in a split second, and hurt yourself in the process.  This is not to discourage..... just want to make sure you have the proper respect for a buffing wheel.  I have seen some pretty spectacular buffing wheel incidents....

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