2 "ground rod" questions (Thumper aka cable fault locator)

============= Two other thoughts.

You can try "frosting" which is decorative hand scraping. Basically scraping as on machine ways, but with a decorative pattern.

see:

Unka' George [George McDuffee] ............................... On Theory: Delight at having understood a very abstract and obscure system leads most people to believe in the truth of what it demonstrates.

G. C. Lichtenberg (1742-99), German physicist, philosopher. Aphorisms "Notebook J," aph. 77 (written 1765-99; tr. by R. J. Hollingdale, 1990).

============= Yet another thought -- try fine hammer peening the brass frame pieces. A patina treatment and polish to bring this out with a clear urathane/epoxy sealer should look very nice.

Unka' George [George McDuffee] ............................... On Theory: Delight at having understood a very abstract and obscure system leads most people to believe in the truth of what it demonstrates.

G. C. Lichtenberg (1742-99), German physicist, philosopher. Aphorisms "Notebook J," aph. 77 (written 1765-99; tr. by R. J. Hollingdale, 1990).

ok now I know how to do it. now the question is will people accept it? with infill's I don't have a large amount of leeway it what most people will accept. myself a simple abrasive brush left a nice finish. but others have said that I need to make the scratches straight only. that's easy to do. I will play around with my mill and see what I get. I will have to offer several finishes I think. the wood I sand to 1200 grit then buff it with Tripoli ad it looks great. metal working is so different it is hard for me to work the way most machinists do. I have to work around my limitations. like cutting the dovetails for the sole and sides. I have the cad files I print out a template use that and layout fluid to mark the dovetails. well the sides and soles never match perfectly even with me cutting right on the line. the sides are usually too small. so now I cut the sole then hog off the bulk on the side and then clamp them together and mark the sides. and as I cut them I can test the fit. now a question to get a nice buffed finish how fine do I have to sand to before I can use a buffing wheel and compound?

I know this sounds like a trivial answer, but it's not. You sand until all the scratches are no more than about twice the size of the next grit. What that size is depends upon your next grit's size.

Buffing compounds are available in a number of grades from VERY agressive to "impalpable" fineness (jeweler's rouge being about the finest practical grit -- washed rouge being the finest of that).

I usually go through about four grades after 1200 grit pre-finishing.

The real secret to graduated polishing is to make sure that ALL scratches and/or pits from the last coarser grade are gone before notching up to the next mesh size. I.E.... when you switch from 320 to 600, make certain you get ALL of the 320 marks off the work before going to 1200 grit.

LLoyd

that means I will have to hand sand past 600 since thats the finest belt that is practial.

So I've heard 8-)

I use bog-standard abrasives and follow the golden rule of metal finishing - Don't move to the finer grit until you've got _all_ the scratches out. The final steps though are with "Garryflex" blocks. These are a series of colour-coded soft rubber blocks with varying grades of embedded abrasive grit. Handy for steel too, but they're absolutely essential for hand-finishing brass, copper or aluminium.

There are many different methods that can apply a multitude of finishes to metal parts. One approach would be to buy the stock prefinished.

Many metal surfaces with with "scratches" that are all straight and in one direction, undergo a process referred to as graining. A graining machine that I operated in a manufacturing facility performed this operation very well for many differently sized, flat parts that were machined from various metals. The graining machine was a huge sanding belt (abrasive side facing toward table) that was running above a sliding table. The table travel was perpendicular to the belt travel. The operator would place the workpiece on the table and use a padded paddle-of-sorts to press on the back (top, smooth side) of the belt to get the abrasive to contact the workpiece, making a motion similar to ironing a shirt sleeve. For workpieces wider than the belt, the table would be moved by the operator while the graining was taking place, and the grain direction was always straight. The operator needs to approach the edges of the workpiece very carefully to avoid rounding the edges. As the abrasive dulls, the appearance changes slightly.

When I use small wood planes, I generally end up using it single-handed for the finishing strokes. That means I hold it by the sides. A slick surface (buffed or highly polished) would be troublesome to me.

Other than graining like the method and machine mentioned, a wire brush wheel or abrasive flap wheel (not disk) could also produce straight lines, if used in a manner similar to a surface grinder (stationary location of wheel arbor), or a radial saw (stationary workpiece). You would need to utilize a sliding/gliding table to grain workpieces wider than the wheels. This wouldn't need to be some heavy, accurate, high precision slide.

Other finishes could be accomplished by grit blasting or chemical etching.

WB metalworking projects

I wish but since I have to peen the sides together I have to grind them flat.

I agree but most people want that shine. so I think I will have a choice of finishes. here are some pics of what I came up with so far the last page is a full buff out

I can't do much hand sanding it hurts my hands. but I buffed out the little plane and it turned out really well. one trick I have found to make sure you get all of the last grit's scratches is to sand in a different direction then it is really easy to tell.