How to make brushed steel

[Titanium]

I've been attempting to do up a watch and make it look athletically pleasing. My problem is I don't know how to texture steel to give it a bushed finish. I've attached a photo of one of the parts I'm working on. I've split it down into the different metal parts. Any pointers would be great.

[jguitron]

220 grit sandpaper will give you that finish

Long strokes along the entire part is important to have regular appearance.

Caution! You have elements of high polish finish. Either you’ll have to convert all to brushed finish or you’ll have to protect the black polish with tape.

It gets complicated if you have multiple finishes. Be careful.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AndyHull]

The coarseness of the abrasive affects the texture of the finish.

If you use a finer grit, say 400, 600 or 800, you will end up with progressively  softer, more satin effect, 100 grit will give you a more textured, but a harsher feel. If you progress from coarse to fine, remember to clean the part between each grit, so as to avoid a mix of grits, and inconsistent results.

You can also use 000 steel wool to soften the effect of harsher grit. The trick is to take care to accurately and carefully mask off any areas that you don't want to become "brushed".

If you need to restore parts to a mirror finish, then it is sometimes easier to do those first, then mask them off and "brush" the other parts. 

For the best results, you need to keep your parts moving in a very straight line across the abrasive. Each pass has to be exactly parallel to the previous one, otherwise you end up with a sort of wavy inconsistency.  Several  soft passes tend to produce a better effect than a couple of passes pressing heavily on the abrasive.

Practice on an old spoon or some other piece of scrap stainless until you get the effect you are looking for.

With care, you can produce some very interesting textures and patterns with simple abrasives, and careful masking of the part.

I find that electrical tape is more robust than painters masking tape for this. You can cut very straight fine strips of your tape by taping it first to baking parchment, then cutting it with a rotary cutter or a scalpel and a steel ruler, then peeling the thin strips from the parchment and applying them to the work piece.

Another trick is to glue strips of abrasive paper on to wooden coffee stirrers or other flat strips of wood. Use them as you would a small file.

 

Edited February 24, 2019 by AndyHull

[AndyHull]

If you want some more metal finishing  tips, you might like to watch this.

The video is a little on the long side, but it covers a whole bunch of techniques.

No doubt there are many other similar videos, but this one covers quite a lot.

[Marc]

3 hours ago, Titanium said:

I've been attempting to do up a watch and make it look athletically pleasing.

All of the previous advice is good for an aesthetically pleasing result, but for what you're asking.... would steroids be appropriate? or maybe a gym membership....    

[AndyHull]

21 minutes ago, Marc said:

All of the previous advice is good for an aesthetically pleasing result, but for what you're asking.... would steroids be appropriate? or maybe a gym membership....    

I don't know, all that polishing is good for building up your biceps.

[Titanium]

1 hour ago, Marc said:

All of the previous advice is good for an aesthetically pleasing result, but for what you're asking.... would steroids be appropriate? or maybe a gym membership....    

Well spotted. I missed that.

 

Thanks for the help. I'm looking forwards to giving this a go on some scrap steel. Think it might take a bit of practice.

[AndyHull]

Just for completeness, I took one of the bands from a battered old Hong Kong special LCD watch and gave it the brushed treatment.

I started by cleaning the band thoroughly with detergent and a tooth brush, then giving it a quick scrub with 000 wire wool.

The wire wool at this stage was probably not necessary, but it  doesn't do any harm.

I then "brushed" the whole band, and the clasp, first using a 400 grit sanding disk, laid flat on a wooden board, followed by a 600 grit sanding pad and then another rub with some 000 wire wool.

I rubbed the face of the two band sections lengthwise, by holding the band flat with a small block of wood, and moving the whole arrangement (block plus band), keeping the pressure uniform along the band, and checking as I went to make sure things were going to plan.

I didn't spend very long on this, perhaps 20 minutes total, taking care to keep the effect uniform along the whole length of the band.

If I were to take a bit more care, I could probably make a much better job of it, but the band has gone from tired and grubby, with lots of scratches on it to, pretty presentable, with not much effort.

Admittedly this is a very simple example, as the whole band has the same finish, but you can see that the method works.

The watch is the same Casio quartz I posted about this morning as my "watch of today".

As you can see the band does have a few other kinks and battle scars, but they are now far less obvious.

Edited February 24, 2019 by AndyHull

[AndyHull]

It occurs to me that if you have access to a belt sander, then this is very effective for producing this brushed steel look.

A belt sander, if used carefully, will keep all of your sanding lines dead straight.

When these bands are mass produced, they hold the links steady, and move the abrasive process in the direction they want the effect to go.

You can see some of the tricks they use in this video.