Barrel Finish?

[223Randy]

Doing a SST bull barrel, looking for finish paper grit. I plan on using my lathe and wet dry paper to give it a polished look. Any ideas on final paper grit? rpm for the spin?

 

[Prose]

If you look on most of the manufactures sites they list the grits they use for their finishes. Some call polished around 300 and others go to 600 or so. Package of paper is only 8 bucks so spin away.

 

[GenePoole]

Depending on the factory finish, I'll start with 400, 320 or even 240 if it's pretty rough. I use a foam lined sanding board and WD-40 as the "wet" for the wet-or-dry paper. I'll stop at 600 unless I want it super shiny, then 1200 or 1500. Cover your lathe with towels or something to keep all that abrasive out of the moving parts and ways. I run as fast as I can which is about 1500 rpm (using VFD) on my old South Bend 13.

 

[Shawnba67]

DO NOT hold the paper in your palm. I figure you know this. I recently watched a video of a guy being pulled into a lathe it was nasty. Unforgettable touch your own elbow nasty

 

[ridgeway]

I get super nice results with a barrel spinner and progressively work up in grit size. I just use 1×42 belts on a Kalamazoo belt sander. 600 to 800 grit is a very nice fine finish. If you want a mirror, you need 1200 and buff afterwards. Way too much work, lol

 

[Preacher]

320 and run as fast as it can works for me and gives a really nice finish....

 

[Riesel]

I have an old craftsman wood lathe that I reconfigured the pulley's on to give me a run speed about 400 rpm or so. Replaced the tail stock piece with a Morse #1 taper. I use different grits on my drill sander until I'm up to 600 grit. I then use a heavy duty pair of leather gloves with polishing compound to finish. Note comment made above, hold gloves lightly on barrel, you are actually polishing and not removing metal. This system works great on barrel blanks that I have turned down and may have some chatter marks as well as start stop marks. Safety is paramount. Do not attempt or operate equipment......................if...................tired......................or ...............................drowsy

 

[Fast14riot]

I have an old craftsman wood lathe that I reconfigured the pulley's on to give me a run speed about 400 rpm or so. Replaced the tail stock piece with a Morse #1 taper. I use different grits on my drill sander until I'm up to 600 grit. I then use a heavy duty pair of leather gloves with polishing compound to finish. Note comment made above, hold gloves lightly on barrel, you are actually polishing and not removing metal. This system works great on barrel blanks that I have turned down and may have some chatter marks as well as start stop marks. Safety is paramount. Do not attempt or operate equipment......................if...................tired......................or ...............................drowsy

I actually have two of the old round bed craftsman wood lathes, never thought about doing that, I converted one to a disc grinder, but don't use the other one for turning, so I might just do that. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Intheshop]

"wet" paper needs to soak,well....before using.Just sayin.Over night works.

 

[JRS]

"wet" paper needs to soak,well....before using.Just sayin.Over night works.

Wet paper also mitigates the colored snot blown buggers

 

[Intheshop]

Not to be confused with "concrete buggers" though.

 

[GabbyJs]

I used to work on plastic injection molds, and had to hand polish many parts to a "diamond luster". On 420R stainless barrels, I do not use any paper coarser than 400 grit. Coarser paper will leave "scratches" deeper than can be removed later. Polishing is a matter of "controlling scratches" in the metal. I spin polish with 400 paper at about 600 rpm. When the finish looks desireable, draw polish next with the same grit paper. This will immediately show the deeper scratches that need to be removed. After that, I use a 3M green pad, while again spinning at 600 rpm. If you want to approach a mirror finish, don't use the 3M pad, but spin with 500 paper, draw polish, and then 600 paper after that, and yellow diamond compound to finish. I can't think of any practical reason to want a barrel with that type of finish, other than some type of show piece.

 

[rayjay]

180 grit alum oxide cloth strip worked back and forth at varying angles and speed until I get some cool swirly patterns and then call it good.