A mirror finish on stainless steel is not just aesthetically pleasing, but it has a few other benefits depending on exactly what you're fabricating. Keep reading to see if a mirror finish is what you really want, and find the processes and products that will get you a great end result!
Mirror finishes are often chosen for stainless steel products that need to look attractive, like balustrades, architecture, kitchen/bathroom tap-wear, or artworks. The benefit to a mirror finish, is not just that it looks great, but that it is highly corrosion resistant. This is due to the polishing procedure which removes deep scratches which can harbor corrosive particles. This is where mirror finishes are particularly useful in coastal architectural projects which can be exposed to salt air.
A mirror finish on stainless steel is a highly reflective, smooth finish with a scratch free appearance, achieved through polishing the stainless steel. Also known as a #8 finish, a mirror finish can be achieved mechanically, using a progressive series of abrasives and polishing compounds.
To get to a mirror finish, you'll work your way through leveling the weld, then sanding, progressively using finer abrasives, before polishing for that truly reflective finish. Here's a step-by-step guide:
If you're aiming for a mirror finish, you're probably wanting your fabrication to look its best, so will want to remove the weld. If you're not needing to remove the weld, skip to step 2. Using a Deerfos Bora9 Fibre Disc , P120, set your sander to 5,000-7,000 RPM and carefully level the weld without gauging or distorting the work Bora9 Fibre Discs use a new generation ceramic grain for aggressive, cool cutting and long life caused by the sharp crystal shaped grain. They also utilise a specialised top coating to reduce clogging, friction and heat build up, maintaining the sharpness of the grain.
Now you've leveled the weld and removed any heavy fabrication marks, it's time to bring these areas up to the base product finish, it's time to sand the whole piece and get it ready for polishing.
A. Start with a Deerfos SA331 Velcro Sanding Disc, P120 grit and sand over the area you've used the fibre disc on in Step 1, or where you've marked the steel in the fabrication process. Setting your sander to 4,000-6,500 RPM, move at a 90° angle to the scratches made in the previous step so make sure the previous scratches are removed. The original finish of the stainless steel you are fabricating with will determine how soon you will need to start sanding the whole piece. Sand the fabricated areas until you have them to about the finish of the original sheet, and after you have done this you will then need to start sanding the whole surface. Repeat each next step:
The higher the mirror finish you want, the more you will need to sand. From this point, the higher you sand, the better mirror finish you will get. These next steps take longer to sand each grit out, to get the prefect finish.
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