Technical How To Repair Your Stainless Trim Using Basic Caveman Tools

Okay so I had a few people asking about how I repaired the 32 ford hubcap in this thread....
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1932-ford-hubcap-repair.1213191/#post-13839896
I thought I would put together a quick "how to" for anyone that's interested. My techniques and tools are actually very primitive.. ***Disclaimer*** This isn't necessarily the "right" way to repair trim, this is just the methods that I use, they work for me...maybe they will work for you? There is no exact scientific formula so as long as the end result is the same it really doesn't matter how you get there.

Stainless trim is thin and delicate, so the key to repairing it successfully is patience. For this demo I will be repairing a headlight ring, mainly because it was near the top of my junk pile, and I don't know what its for so if I ruin it who cares...
It has most of the typical damage, heavy scratches, dents, dings and a small crack

Now these are the tools, old body hammer, file, flat blade screwdriver (aka chisel), screwdriver with the end broken off,a punch,sanding block, and a flat wood table. In this case I will not be using the file, only use files as a last resort. Files help to reveal high and low spots, however they also remove material fast and leave heavy scratches, so I prefer to use a sanding block with 80 or 120 grit sandpaper.
We will start by repairing the larger dents, here is a dent from the underside (I have no idea why there is multiple colors of house paint on the inside, you should clean off all house paint and debris from the inside of the damaged areas first)

Okay so we are going to start by using the broken off screwdriver as a punch by tapping on it with a hammer, starting from the outside of the dent and working towards the center. I'm holding the piece against the table, using it as a back up dolly, I like to use a table with a softer surface, as a metal table could cause further damage to the surface of the stainless.

Ok now we can see that the basic shape is back, however the area is still low (dark spot)

now back to tapping away with our busted off screwdriver. Just about any tool can be the right tool for fixing trim, chisels, punches, jewelers hammers, blocks of wood, chunks of scrap metal, just get creative. Going slow, and being accurate is more important than the tools used

Once larger damage is roughed out, its hard to see the remaining imperfections from the inside, I lightly sand the inside to reveal highs and lows, high spots show up as shiny areas, low spots are dark

On the outside I have sanded the surface with 80 grit on a block, this has revealed some high spots which will need to be tapped down before we can continue
I'm using the hammer and chisel to lightly tap these down

Ok so after tapping down the high spots, and tapping up some more low spots from the inside with our trusty broken screwdriver, I've block sanded the outside again and we are now left with a few very small low spots...


For minor low spots and dings I put my busted screwdriver aside and use the chisel to push up the low spots, no need for hammering, laying the piece on a flat surface and applying medium pressure is often enough.
How it looks after blocksanding with 80, this area is now ready for final sanding and polishing


More to come in the next post....

 

Here we have small crack on the edge, cracks can be tig welded or soldered up, but if your like me and dont care, and the crack is not in a critical area, you can still make cracks look presentable without any welding.
I started by using my body hammer to straighten the edge, then used the chisel to help finesse everything back into shape.
And here is the final result, its not show quality, but this only took a few minutes, and it looks much more presentable then it did.
Here the edges are misaligned where the headlight ring is spot welded together, damage like this can be easily corrected with small adjustments, with stainless its always best to start with the least aggressive methods vs taking the heavy handed approach, which often just causes more damage.
In this case I applied light pressure using the face of my body hammer...no hammering required
and its fixed... A lot of damage can be repaired by just applying pressure in the right areas, this is especially true on thinner stainless pieces.


Its often not necessary to sand beyond the repair area as it just creates more work during the polishing stage, however this trim ring was badly scratched and dulled, which made it difficult to spot additional damage.

Sanding has revealed a small ding that otherwise would have been missed. It's better to find damage like this now, rather than during the final sanding stage.
This area is badly distorted from someone over tightening the hold down screw

I'll use the chisel area of my body hammer to rough this area out. Generally I prefer to avoid swinging hammers during stainless repair as its less accurate than punches or chisels

Using the face of the hammer to push the inside edge back into shape.
here is the area all straightened out.


Okay now that all the damage has been removed its time to move on to the sanding stage, I will cover that in the post below.

 

I start by sanding the entire headlight ring with 80 grit, unless you like making work for yourself don't sand the entire trim piece unless it is damaged. As I mentioned before this entire headlight ring was scratched and damaged, which made sanding neccesary.

Next I sanded with 120. I sand in the opposite direction with each grit, that way I am able to see when all the sand scratches from the last grit are removed, if you sand one direction the whole time, you will not be able to see if you removed all of the courser grit scratches, which will come back to haunt you when it comes time to polish.

I continue on sanding changing direction with each grit, 180,220,400,600,800,1000
In this picture we are in 1000 grit. The sanding takes forever, but you get out of it what you put in, so don't cut corners...

I take it up to 2000 grit then polish. In keeping with the caveman theme I am using a cheapo harbor freight buffing wheel chucked in a corded drill thats clamped in a bench vice. (sorry I didnt take any pictures of this sketchy operation) I use the green metal polishing compound. In the past Ive also had good results just sanding up to 3000 and using automotive paint polishing compound with a soft polishing pad. You can also get away with sanding up to 800 or 1000, and then working up through various compounds on the buffing wheel, but I prefer spending more time sanding then buffing (less heat and less chance of the buffing wheel grabbing your freshly repaired piece and flinging it across the room...)
Anyways here is the final result



Hopefully someone got some useless information out of my incoherent rambling. None of this is difficult, but it is tedious, however the end result is very rewarding.

 

Keep it coming. I'm watching.

 

Or really! Just like the dime theater, back in the twenties, when I was a kid! Yeah, wait till next week!!!! Is Ovaltine sponsoring you!






Bones

 

Thank you!

 

Awesome. You make it look easy but I am sure I could still manage to fuck it up.
I have alot of trim pieces that need work so will save this thread.

 

I'm sure I'm too ham(b) fisted to even attempt that!

Chris

 

Thanks, good info.

 

haha I won't make you wait till next week, and admission is only 5 cents.

 

If I can do it, then anyone can do it, better and faster too....And when in doubt, just practice on someone else's car first haha.

 

not incoherent at all - nice step by step... well done!

 

Thanks for posting. Good to see how your patience paid off.

 

You did a good job on the headlight rim. I, too did some stainless trim repair in the past, but I found it really takes a long time to get it done correctly.

 

Excellent info. Thanks!

 

I’ve a fixed lot with hardwood tools or punches if you like. Used the edges to bring back a line in side trim. I drill into a cube and add a dowel to hit...

 

Showoff....make me feel inferior....good post, very informative, you make it look like I could actually do this. Nice work.

 

I wish I had your patience! ... and skill for that matter! Are we going to see a thread on fixing aluminum trim????Inquiring minds have to know!








Bones

 

You did a great job of conveying the process, method and procedures, you made it easy to follow and understand.
Fantastic job, the result looks great. I learned allot from you tonight and I thank you for making the time to document and share this with us all.
Glenn

 

Good post Thank you

 

Nicely done!

 

Thanks for the show & tell!
I've got some trim that needs exactly this type pf care and I've been trying to figure out how to do it..

 

Cool. nice work superb process explaining

I did the same thing once. I took an old push rod and chucked it in a drill press.
Clamped a block of wood on the drill press table. Used the drill press as a press to work the dent out.
Then file and sand as you did.

 

Thanks for doing this. Are you for hire?

 

Nice write up. I am getting ready to shorten some stainless trim and wondering how to fix the cut off end. the part circled in red.

 

Thank You!!

Always appreciate how to's like this.

 

Absolutely amazing on both this and the hubcap!

 

Great write up.

Ive had very good luck using hardwood as a driver and body hammer. More forgiving than a steel tool to avoid putting additional outdents.

On shallow even dents without a crease ( rock dings) try using a hardwood "stick" and move across backside of the dent to push it out without even hammering.

Routering a few different channels into a 2x8 is a bonus to rest the trim in and press against.

This is one time that violates my rule: wood is for framing walls for garages so you can work on more cars. Wood is not the project just a means to an end. Drives my woodworking buddies crazy.

 

appreciate sharing what you have learned - not something that can be rushed -

 

Good read , right to the point.