Polish axles...replacement for mothers mag

[derbster]

Would any metal polsih be better than none if we don't have mother's mag on hand? We have some silver polish and stainless steel polish/cleaner. Are there other household substitutes we should look for??

And, on the topic of polishing, whitening toothpaste for the the wheel bore, right? should anything else be considered?

Thanks!!

[PWD_addict]

Apparently, Mother's Stainless is better than Mother's Mag so, I would assume that the stainless polish you have should be pretty decent. If course, you will want to make sure that your polish isn't rougher than the last sandpaper grit you used. Mother's Mag is supposed to be equivalent to 15,000 grit, if I remember correctly. What was the finest grit sandpaper you polished with?

[doct1010]

I have heard, but never tried, Wendel a metal polishing cotton. I may have the spelling wrong. Used on antique brass and the like. Also a piece of leather or chamois as a final polish works.

[derbster]

Thanks for the replies. we're going to 3000 grit on the axles. so maybe the jump from 3000 to a polish might be a leap.

[doct1010]

No I don't think so, I seem to recall some years ago Sssnake posting info on polishing compounds, IIRC 3000 automotive grit is close to 18000 micro mesh. So I think you are ok, most people don't go that far. We wet sand to 2000 grit (found a use for that $30 NyeOil, tip I picked up here) automotive paper. Finish with Mother's.

[doct1010]

And, on the topic of polishing, whitening toothpaste for the the wheel bore, right? should anything else be considered?

Thanks

We spend as much, maybe more time on the bore. We believe it may be more important than axle polish if using liquids. Whitening toothpaste works, we tried plastic polish went back to toothpaste. You can also burnish the bore and remember they tend to taper.

[hotrod]

hey doct1010,
what steps do you use to prepare your bores for kryton? I understand the bore treatment is more critical compared to graphite. Do you burnish with drill stock before polishing bore and what works best for polishing agent?

Ed

[derbster]

Doct1010 - so what does 3 out of 4 dentist recommend?

[doct1010]

hey doct1010,
what steps do you use to prepare your bores for kryton? I understand the bore treatment is more critical compared to graphite. Do you burnish with drill stock before polishing bore and what works best for polishing agent?

Ed

We ream slightly to remove taper, burnish with gage pin and polish, polish, polish. As stated above, we are happy with toothpaste on a pipe cleaner, the real tobacco store variety not the heavy metal craft store. We will do several applications wet then dry, followed by thorough cleaning with hot water. Have yet to find anything superior to toothpastes bang for the buck. If you are planning to use liquid lube be absolutely sure bore is clean and dry before application.

[doct1010]

Doct1010 - so what does 3 out of 4 dentist recommend?

Seriously? We use what my dentist told me NEVER to put in my mouth due to it's abrasives. Pearl drops or if you can find it the old McCleans she said they were the worst. Put I imagine any whitining toothpaste would work.

[derbster]

Doct - by "seriously?" were you refering to oral or pinewood applications...? I was talking the latter, but if you meant the former then that's good to know, too! ;- )

[doct1010]

Doct - by "seriously?" were you refering to oral or pinewood applications...? I was talking the latter, but if you meant the former then that's good to know, too! ;- )

Please reread it carefully. She told me NEVER to use it as toothpaste. So I concluded it would probably work well as bore polish.

[ohiofitter]

Doct1010 what do you burnish with

[Phat Pine]

Doct - by "seriously?" were you refering to oral or pinewood applications...? I was talking the latter, but if you meant the former then that's good to know, too! ;- )

Please reread it carefully. She told me NEVER to use it as toothpaste. So I concluded it would probably work well as bore polish.

Just signed up and have been catching up on all the threads. This is the second year of PWD for my little scout and I. Last year as a Tiger he finished 1st for the Tiger group and 4th for the Pack. This year as a Wolf he finished 1st for the Wolf group and ended up Pack grand champion. I am a dentist, but have never tried toothpaste. I have a question. I normally use a Shofu gold polishing kit when preparing axles. I usually stop with the finest grit (super greenie) and don't go beyond that. Any ideas as to the grit for these? I imagine I could use jeweler's rouge to go even finer (it is somewhat messy), but would that be necessary? Could I just go from super greenie and then proceed to a metal polish? I've got plenty of other questions, but I'll have to gather some data and post them in other threads here.

[doct1010]

Phat without knowing the grit / micron rating on the polishing kit difficult to answer. Here is post I saved in my docs as reference, it's worth repeating. We have been following the advice listed at bottom with very good result. Original post by Sssnake.

Listed below are some specs. and info on arasives and polishing media:
"Pumice is ordinarily used in hand polishing operations. Pumice is typically chosen to remove layered oxides. This material is not designed to achieve mirror finishes. Pumice is also used on lacquer or varnish coatings (often with linseed oil and a fine felt pad) to achieve a fine, soft finish.
1) Approximately 16 different granulations available from a very coarse granule (4.75 mm and finer) to a very fine powder (45 microns and finer)
2) Two new low micron grades were recently added:
a) “Micro-Fine 5” which has a d90 of 5 microns and
b) ”Micro-Fine 10” which has a d90 of 10 microns."
1500 grit sand paper is at 3 microns. The micro- fine grades of pumice are used in specialized operations and are probably not what you used. But even so "Mothers" from the best of my research is Magnesium oxide in a petroleum carrier, .05 microns.
As far as grades of sand paper:
There are several standards for coated abrasives, but by far rthe most commonly used are those of the Coated Abrasives Manufacturer's Institute (CAMI) and the Federation of European Producers of Abrasives (FEPA). Worldwide, the FEPA system is more common. The two systems are not strictly comparable, because FEPA defines a grade by defining a range of grain sizes, while CAMI defines the average particle size. All sandpapers manufactured in the U.S. conform to the same system for grading coarseness, set forth by the Coated Abrasive Manufacturers Institute. The smaller the number, the coarser the grit.
1000 CAMI grit sandpaper 9.2 microns.
1500 CAMI grit sandpaper 3 microns
2000 CAMI grit sandpaper 1 micron.
12000 grit sandpaper .5 microns
1000 grit FEPA 18.3 microns
1500 grit FEPA 12.6 microns
2000 grit FEPA 10.3 microns
2500 grit FEPA 8.4 microns
Diamond paste - down to 3 microns.
Extra Fine Scotch-Brite Belt/Pad - 35 microns.
Micro-Mesh - grades 1500 to 12000 from 30 to 2 microns
Micro-Mesh MX - 80MS to 1200MX from 945 to 3 microns
Micro-Mesh Aluminum Oxide - from 30 to 2 microns
Iron oxide (known as jeweler's rouge) - aproximately 3 micron
If you compare the Mothers at .05 microns to .5 microns for 12000 grit sandpaper. Theoretically the Mother's is definitely better. If you would have taken the Mother's axle to 2000 grit and then Mothers, I think you would be surprised.I don't believe the mother's would be able to remove the scratches caused by the pumice.