My guru suggested I use an electric tooth brush to remove and polish off that grey surface mill scale on cast furniture. Any suggestions which abrasive paste works best for the job?
polishing off the mill grey scale on casting?
- Thread starter holzwurm
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I doubt it very much that a soft bristle toothbrush and a light abrasive will do much to remove any foundry scale from your cast parts. You would need something more aggressive like emery /silicone cloth/paper or abrasive stones and elbow grease 
The Appalachian
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Most castings have one or several sprues that need to be ground down, filed, sanded etc. Those areas will not match the rest of the surface unless you file/sand the rest of the piece. And I'm talking about the smoothness of the surface, filed/sanded vs the rough surface left by the mold.
Lots you can do here and the simplest easiest is to bead blast the entire thing after removing the sprues. A bead blasted surface will be a clean matte surface and take a browning very well.
Now if you want a polished piece to blue, then the whole point is mute. Grind, file, sand, polish, and roll with it.
Personally I like an 80 grit sanding finish on cast parts grained in one direction and then gone over with rough steel wool, because that very closely matches a draw filed surface which is what was done back in the day without such things as bead blasters and sand paper.
On the cast butt plate on my current build I filed the edges to match the wood after I beat the ever living crap out of the surface that contacts the shoulder, with an air powered needle chipper. This makes it look like a hammered finish but is smooth. It was just an experiment but I'm gonna go with it because it looks good.
Sky is the limit if you have the tools......
Lots you can do here and the simplest easiest is to bead blast the entire thing after removing the sprues. A bead blasted surface will be a clean matte surface and take a browning very well.
Now if you want a polished piece to blue, then the whole point is mute. Grind, file, sand, polish, and roll with it.
Personally I like an 80 grit sanding finish on cast parts grained in one direction and then gone over with rough steel wool, because that very closely matches a draw filed surface which is what was done back in the day without such things as bead blasters and sand paper.
On the cast butt plate on my current build I filed the edges to match the wood after I beat the ever living crap out of the surface that contacts the shoulder, with an air powered needle chipper. This makes it look like a hammered finish but is smooth. It was just an experiment but I'm gonna go with it because it looks good.
Sky is the limit if you have the tools......
