buffing agraffes

[Mark Cramer]

I did try bead-blasting as recommended by Tim Coates. This method gets the
job done quickly, gets into the corners nicely and leaves a very uniform,
matte surface finish. Note; Mason & Hamlin mention this finishing detail of
their action frames in their promotional brochures.

The overall finish is a bit dull and powdery looking, (similar to metallic
gold paint, without the clear coat)and could (as you wish) be done without
removing the agraffres from the plate. However, steel-wooling provides more
brilliance.

The goal again was to provide new appearance to original agraffes, in the
somewhat rare instances where new replacements are unavailable.

For the high lustre finish, Trevor Nelson RPT suggested the very hard
buffing wheel offered by Lee Valley tools for chisel honing. This became the
solution I was looking for; it is very quick, and here is how it works for
us:

1.) If badly tarnished, painted, etc.), pre-clean with Tarn-X, or even
bead-blasting

2.) buff on the hard felt wheel w/red tripoli

3.) re-size holes w/ jobber bit (thanks Roger J.)

4.) polish clean,	and lacquer

5.) point the finished product out with great pride to anyone who will give
audience to your ranting!  :>)

Mark Cramer,
Brandon University