Saturday, April 23, 2011

Making It Shine

After Polishing
The scratches on top of my cherry and brass level were really distracting and made it look a little slipshod.

So, I took friends' advice and ordered polishing papers, which worked really well.

I went through these successive grits: 400, 600, 1200, 4000, 6000, and 8000.

The level is much shinier than before, but I could have spent a few more minutes on some areas where light scratches still remain.

And there they shall. I've moved on to other fun projects.

10 comments:

Mark Rhodes said...

That's turned out really beautiful, I like it a lot.

Chris said...

Really nice and classic! If you follow the polishing papers with a little Brasso, it should take out most of the remaining micro scratches.

Dyami Plotke said...

Nice and shiny, Kari. Well done on the level.

Kari Hultman said...

Thanks, guys. The cherry has darkened quite a bit, which is really nice.

Chris, thanks for the tip. I'll get some and try it.

Eric said...

Absolutely top notch Kari.

Unknown said...

Wonderful work. Congratulations!

Woodbloke said...

Kari - good job with the polishing papers. Brasso is great stuff, but if you can't get it, a little metal polish will also suffice - Rob

Charles said...

Nice level.

Remember to put all the screw slots in the same direction!

Custom One Design Build said...

Kari,

after 37 years as a professional woodworker it takes a lot to impress me, You little level impresses me..... Great eye for detail and proportion. Ill be making one of my own. Thanks for sharing.

Custom One Design Build said...

I tweeked a few things from your design, added a bottom , stainless steel and macassar ebony. Now that the CAD drawing is done I hope mine comes out as well as yours. For future reference, when you buff metal the results are far better on a machine buffer with jewelers rouge or tripoli compound. what compound to use depends on the metal.

The new version.

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg28/customone/Picture11-5.png

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg28/customone/Picture12-2.png