Keg Polishing

[dreamboat]

I am now the proud owner of a keg or six (pick up next weekend after a successful ebay purchase) and along with replacing all the seals in these, I would like to get them polished up for that extra touch - and so I can keep a track of the ones which I have reconditioned.
Has anyone polished their own?? If so, how did you do it, and how difficult was it???



Dreamboat

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

Try these guys Dreamboat. They should be able to steer you in the right direction.

 

[normell]

Yeah, but he want's to polish his KEGS, NOT COCK.

 

[GMK]

set them up on a lathe - get some silvo - turn the lathe on and start polishing...

Did u get the system from Elanoarer....

 

[Doc]

I used a green scrubby and they came up pretty good pretty quick.
A going over afterwards with a buffer and silvo would probably make them even better.

Doc

 

[Boots]

I got some S/S polish from the Hardware store, and also had some "Gumption" lying around.

The Gumption worked a treat. You can get it from the supermarket.

The S/S polish worked better after having given them the once over with gumption.

 

[Bionic]

I have polished small stainless steel bits from my motorbike on a polishing weel on my bench grinder with S/S polshing compound it it turned out sweet... If you haven't got a lathe handy this might be a good way of doing this.. Have you got a bench grinder? IF you have pollishing weels aren't that expensive and they last for a long time

 

[Tony M]

Get a 4 inch piece of 1/4" mild steel rod then put a hacksaw cut down the axis for about half way. Trim a piece of "green scrubby" with scissors then force it into the slot you have cut then roll it up clockwise (when you are looking at the slotted end) then wrap a bit of tape round it to hold it in its rolled state. The scrubby should extend beyond the steel rod by 1/2" or so. You can then chuck this tool in your drill and by plunging the end directly onto the keg surface, you will get those beaut little whorls you see on the SS milk tankers for example.

 

[dreamboat]

Yes GMK... System from Elanora. Would have been nice for $100 or so less, but still a good deal at the final price..
Lathe is not an option for me... so it looks like it will be a job for the green scrubby. I thought that I heard somewhere that wet & dry was the go... but unless someone who has tried it is prepared to comment, i could find myself with a bigger problem on my hands.
Nice suggestion on the flash whirly things Tony, may just give that a go on the base of one to see how it will come out.



dreamboat

 

[Tony M]

Dreamboat,
Wet n dry wont hurt it and will get out any corroded spots if you are prepared to rub n rub. However stainless is quite soft and you will leave scratch marks in it, so you must rub in the one direction or it will look shithouse. The original surface probably has transverse scratches in it as that is the way they ran on the sheet stock. Dont use anything coarser than 400 grit and you will have to finish with 1200 or 1500 grit. the surface will still appear to have fine scratches in it and to get rid of those, you must borrow a polisher from somewhere and finish with automotive cutting compound. Thats why the whorls are good. You are making the scratches a feature.

 

[sosman]

I first use waxol with green scrubbe to remove grease and wax then wet and dry to remove any other guff.

I have a bench grinder but I would first opt (were I to do this) for a polishing disk on my air grinder or angle grinder.

 

[jgriffin]

I've just started to polish my kegs. First off was the party keg.

Below are the pics of before, and after all of 30 secs of polishing using a polishing wheel on the bench grinders

 

[jgriffin]

And after

 

[roach]

Very nice Jgriff. Interesting reflection in the shiny one.

 

[chillamacgilla73]

If you've got the cash, Electropolishing will get them looking like chrome. I have sent fabricated stainless gear to be electropolished and it blew me away how shiney they get the gear! Try the ring around, I'm sure offering a few bevvies will drop the price significantly.