Toilets, Sinks, Showers, Tubs and Disposals - Stainless steel kitchen sink dingy
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CGGMA
03-08-05, 09:54 AM
Our kitchen sink is stainless and is rather dingy looking.
How could be spruce it up? any treatment or such..
I clean it but not shiny anymore.
thanks for any help
How could be spruce it up? any treatment or such..
I clean it but not shiny anymore.
thanks for any help
DUNBAR PLUMBER
03-08-05, 03:10 PM
Replacement is your best option for aged stainless.
Kobuchi
03-10-05, 07:31 PM
First of all, use powerful acid to really clean it to the degree you may even be etching the metal. I use Flyte's "Blade & Bit Cleaner" (meant for cleaning baked resins off power blades) because it's an unconventially strong acid, but heavy duty oven cleaner would work OK. Mask around the rim to protect the countertop, and have the plug sealed down tight to protect the drain pipes.
Now using sandpaper and polishing grit you have three different finishes to choose from:
One is a finely sanded finish, cut with "super fine" wet/dry paper (use wet) probably 600 grit to start (less if there are already scratches in the sink) and then progressively higher ending with around 2000 grit and random strokes (to keep the reflection consistent). This won't be mirror shiny but it will be even and the sink will look fresh out of the factory.
Next there's the mirror finish - I think that's what you want. Same as above but after 600 or so grit switch to buffing with powder or paste abrasives. These are graded by micron - 15 microns being 600 grit, 3 micron being about 8000 grit. I don't know what 1 micron equals but that's fine enough to finish glass and will make your sink so smoothly reflective one dropped fork will mar it.
An alternate treatment is grained, also known as brushed. That just means a coarsely scratched finish with all the grooves in parallel, like a compact disk. An advantage in this is that normal wear blends in with the established texture. All you need is 150 or 180 grit paper (or pads) and masking tape. The tape is for masking off surfaces that will have different grain orientations, like the sides and bottom. At first it will seem you're just ruining the sink but once the ruin is consistent the sink will look brand new.
You could also imitate some sinks by combining grained basin with mirrored top.
Now using sandpaper and polishing grit you have three different finishes to choose from:
One is a finely sanded finish, cut with "super fine" wet/dry paper (use wet) probably 600 grit to start (less if there are already scratches in the sink) and then progressively higher ending with around 2000 grit and random strokes (to keep the reflection consistent). This won't be mirror shiny but it will be even and the sink will look fresh out of the factory.
Next there's the mirror finish - I think that's what you want. Same as above but after 600 or so grit switch to buffing with powder or paste abrasives. These are graded by micron - 15 microns being 600 grit, 3 micron being about 8000 grit. I don't know what 1 micron equals but that's fine enough to finish glass and will make your sink so smoothly reflective one dropped fork will mar it.
An alternate treatment is grained, also known as brushed. That just means a coarsely scratched finish with all the grooves in parallel, like a compact disk. An advantage in this is that normal wear blends in with the established texture. All you need is 150 or 180 grit paper (or pads) and masking tape. The tape is for masking off surfaces that will have different grain orientations, like the sides and bottom. At first it will seem you're just ruining the sink but once the ruin is consistent the sink will look brand new.
You could also imitate some sinks by combining grained basin with mirrored top.