Polishing Picks to a mirror finish, Looking for advice.

[JoshuaWest]

Hello,

Just wondering about polishing picks to a mirror finish.

**The reason I don't think that doing a Google search on "How to polish metal" will relate, is that picks are so thin and smooth to begin with, I feel that "start with a good 60 grit" is going to take off far too much material, and cause far more work when a higher grit starting point is all the process needs***

Before we dig into that though, Is there any real benefit to (mirror) polishing beyond aesthetics? (Before being used / scratched anyways.)

This post had some information I was looking for: viewtopic.php?p=316673
--> Particularly found the silver plating conversation educational, if anyone hasn't read it, I'd recommend.

But am still wondering, as purchased picks are so close to smooth already, what grit should the process begin with?
600, 800, 1000, 1500?

In the above post it mentions that 2000 grit essentially voids the need of actual metal polishing?

I have assorted polishing compounds (black, green, white, red) and a willingness to learn.

Any tips are greatly appreciated.

[Squelchtone]

Hi,

The process of polishing ones picks to reduce drag and friction and increase feedback and sensitivity while picking is well covered. There is a trick we use here for when our built in Search function doesn't return great results, and that is to go to Google but to include site:lockpicking101.com after the search terms and it only mines for results here on the forum.

Try it out, it's pretty handy: https://www.google.com/search?q=polishing+picks+site%3Alockpicking101.com

Enjoy the forum and happy polishing, I'd start with wet/dry 400 myself, then 600, 800 and finish at 1000, unless you want mirror in which case some wet 1 micron 2000 grit paper is great and can be purchased at the auto supply stores. I recommend 3M products: http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.a ... at=1,42500

Someone here had attached sandpaper with rubber bands to popsickle sticks and moved the metal instead of the usual way of rubbing the paper against metal in your hand or in a vice. I think it may have been Raimundo in his Bogota polishing instructions.

Enjoy,
Squelchtone

[JoshuaWest]

Thanks!

All great advice.

--> Actually, I've been enjoying the forum for a couple of years now. Just reading, never really posting.

Just recently did I realize that I don't have access to the advanced forums. The topics are likely a touch beyond my skill, but i'm hungry for information. I assume actually participating in the community (Instead of leeching the wonderful information) is the key to that access?

[MBI]

I assume actually participating in the community (Instead of leeching the wonderful information) is the key to that access?

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2474

[Miss_Stang_67]

Hi guys,

I'm a total newbie at lockpicking, but I'm a professional jeweller (with a graduate degree in jewellery and metals) so I thought I might be able to add to the polishing metal conversation.

Depending on your picks (is there any texture on them from fabrication?) you'll need to start with either 220 grit or 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper. Make sure you get the automotive style wet/dry so that you can actually sand wet as it goes much faster and produces better results.

Once you're ready for 400 grit I highly recommend 3M's Tri-M-Ite papers (that's all that I use in jewellery.

Rio Grande http://www.riogrande.com sells just about everything you could need for metal care so they’re a good one stop shop and their customer service is excellent (I’ve been shopping with them for 10 years). You'll need to call up to create an account, but it's not much of a hassle and they have some great products so I think it's worth it.

Just a note on sanding ... you should cross hatch your layers so that you can see if there are scratches that don't disappear with the grit you're working on, which means you need to go back to the previous grit. For example, if you start at 400 grit only sand left to right with it. When you move up to 600 grit only sand up and down. The next grit go back to sanding left to right ... and continue this way through progressively finer grits.

I'd sand up through 1200 grit and then take it to a buffing wheel with white diamond followed by zam. Make sure you support your tools during buffing with a scrap piece of thick wood. Otherwise your tools may bend or become projectiles. Also make sure you have separate buffs for ferrous and non ferrous metals and each polishing compound should have a dedicated buff to prevent contamination.

Alternatively, you could try using Rio’s quick finish cutting compound in all 3 grits on buffs instead of sanding. Then follow up with white diamond and zam. I do this on all my homemade tools and stakes and it works really well and is fast. The tubes of cutting compound last forever, 6 people could easily share a tube and have plenty. The compound dries out quickly though so I double bag mine in ziplock bags with a damp cloth inside to help keep it moist.

Hope that helps ☺

[dll932]

Good link-thanks! This also underscores the need for alternative sources and ideas.

[lovelocks +1]

I have seen on Bosnian Bill's You Tube video's the way he polishes picks is to fold the paper into a book and insert the pick between the leaves and move back and forth. You can stack up the grits into the book in layers and sand all your picks very quickly.