Polishing stainless steel

[Chewing Gum 17]

Tips for polishing st st stanchions, pushpit etc

How to passivate ?

[Vorpal Blade 89]

Autosol is the polish of choice for the professional polishers on the big $$ boats.

[Steve Pope 253]

Passivate "any new welding" with Avesta Pickling paste, be careful, nasty stuff!!

[Dtwo 157]

Electro polish

[marinheiro 363]

Emergel if there is any rust staining, then Autosol, and maybe a wax polish to finish off

[BMW56 12]

Once you have it nicely polished a wipe down with some olive oil will slow down any future tarnishing or staining. You can't use any coatings that keep oxygen away from the surface of the stainless, but the olive oil provides an oxygen permeable barrier to any salt and keeps the finish nice. It only needs a very thin film, but be careful not to make anything slippery that shouldn't be.

[Chewing Gum 17]

Thanks guys - some good tips. I am not that fussy either but ongoing problem with one foot of pushpit that had wet rope resting on it for some time. Ever since it is badly rusty looking which can be removed with polishing but soon comes back so really needs passivating. Will try some of the remedies suggested, possibly the milder ones before trying the Hydrofluoric acid which I was aware of and also aware of its nasty properties.

[bigal.nz 60]

Ive used autosol a few times, but it all depends on what the job is. If your going from mill scale to glamour then its working through the grades, flap wheels, buffs, pastes etc...

 

But autosol is what Id use on an existing setup

 

I have been using autosol, but there is one metal bar in particular that might need something more aggressive before finishing with Autosol - which product do you suggest before the autosol?

[BMW56 12]

You can get flap discs for an angle grinder that clean up stainless quite nicely. They come in various grades so you can start coarse and finish fine. They aren’t as aggressive as you might think. Bunnings should have them, but my local Mitre 10 doesn’t. Otherwise wet and dry sandpaper. Then you can use a kitchen pot pad to finish off. NOT a Steelo pad - never use steel wool on stainless as it will start it rusting. The synthetic pads like Scotch Bright work well but you will need to use some elbow grease. Then you can buff up using Autosol.

 

If you are doing the work on the boat make sure you clean up any dust if you use a flap disc or sand, otherwise it will very quickly rust and stain paintwork.

[chariot 244]

Have used Braso and a soft cloth. Works well.