Technical polished all my trim for my 50 chevy

i spent the weekend polishing all the trim for my 50 chevy car. first 220, 320, 400 and 600 paper.

then a 10" sisal wheel, then a softer wheel, then real soft wheel, then finally some mothers polish.

one piece got away from me and shot across the room. luckily it wasnt destroyed.

this was a big job and my arms are tired! i wonder how much it would have cost me to have it done professionally?

 

Yes it is a huge job and from the looks of the photo you did a great job,time consuming..Check,sore arms...check,part getting jerked out of you hand and sailing across the shop while polishing...Check. HRP

 

Yes, a lot of work but a lot of satisfaction though.. Looks great...

 

Nice work.

 

I have never done this yet so school me, do you have to start with 220 or 320 for it to turn out right or is that just for scratched areas? And is 600 were you stop with the sand paper?. I want to do some pieces on my 54 and don't want to screw this up.

 

Looks really good. I'm not looking forward to having to do mine...

 

i am by no means an expert at this, this is the first time i tried. it.
i started with 220 if the piece had scratches, nearly everything had*****ches sanded until the scrathes were gone. if i hit the scrathes with 220 i did the whole piece with 220, i think you want to give each piece the same treatment to keep the final result consistent.

i sed a DA sander at first to speed things up, and folowed it up with hand sanding. the experts probably will say not to use a DA, but i had to get this job finished and the DA really speeded uop the sanding process.

if the piece didnt have scratches i hit it with the 320. after the 320 treatment i found that the next sandings went pretty quick.

after the sanding i hot the pieces with the "SISAL" wheel with the black. this wheel is very agressive and puts a shine on the piece pretty quick when a lot of pressure is applied. again the next wheels go pretty fast in comparison to the first, using less pressure than the previous each time. (too much pressure will "burn" the piece though, turning it a shade of brown. this can be buffed off again though)

i used a big baldor buffer that does 3600 rmp, with 10 inch wheels.

what i learned was you cannot be afraid of the machine, a lot of pressure is required. full concentration is needed, there cannot be any distractions. this machine is very dangerous. the surface of the wheel is moving at over 100 mph.
keep that in mind as to where you set up the buffer, i only had one piece shoot out of my hand.

also, i had a good helper, for some of the big pieces, like the rocker trim, and the quarter panel strips, and the visor trim. these pieces are long and delicate. i would not have been able to these alone. my help held onto one end and guided the pice along as i buffed it.

wear good gloves and eye protection. i also found that earplugs are helpful even though its not too noisy. they help put you in a "Zone".

i actually enjoyed doing it even though it is very hard work, arms and back got tired, and its dirty. you get into a trance like state, kind of hypnotized after a while, where you are just focused on whats in front of your face and everything else has to be blocked out. you really have to pay attention or you can detroy the piece, or worse, hurt yourself or anyone who might be in the line of fire.

 

You can use some dish soap and water to help lube the parts your hand sanding. Dirty job but you did good. Don't try to polish the trim rings that hold the headlight in the bucket. They will beat the heck outa you. Yes I know for a fact!