Toothpaste polishing.

I've heard of people using toothpaste to clean jewelry items. I myself use it to clean the stainless steel bracelet band of one of my watches and it seems to do the job. I think the idea is that toothpaste is less abrasive and won't scratch highly-polished surfaces or scrape away softer metals such as gold. Might be useful on a blade with a lot of fancy etching or inlayed metals.

**NOTE: I don't have any first hand knowledge of jewelry care/maintenance/cleaning. Toothpaste may indeed scratch gold and/or other metals. I should not have posted hearsay... apologies! :foot: **
 
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Bill DeShivs said:
Toothpaste will scratch gold.
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neeman said:
I once used toothpaste on very tarnish silver
It took off the fine buffed finish and badly scratched the piece.
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Shows how little I know about jewelry cleaning! Thanks fellas!

Although I haven't had any problems with toothpaste scratching my steel watch bracelet, I don't really have any jewelry and know next to nothing about maintenance. I should edit my previous post so someone doesn't bugger up theirs...
 
Interesting thread. Someone recommended Colgate toothpaste to me for this purpose.

Ok, toothpaste(s) aside, if I wanted to polish some stainless steel forks and spoons by hand, what's the best stuff to use, that I can find locally?
 
DB731 said:
Interesting thread. Someone recommended Colgate toothpaste to me for this purpose.

Ok, toothpaste(s) aside, if I wanted to polish some stainless steel forks and spoons by hand, what's the best stuff to use, that I can find locally?
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Depending on where 'locally' actually is(?), you might at least be able to find some Mother's Mag Aluminum & Wheel Polish at an automotive supplies store, and I know Walmart also carries it in the equivalent section (car wash stuff, waxes, etc); that's where I found it. If you have a woodworking supply outlet nearby, you might find some Flitz or Simichrome polish there (I have some Simichrome found at a Woodcraft outlet). Any of these will work on stainless steel, including most cutlery.

If your kitchen flatware is in somewhat rough shape, with scratches or heavy scuffing or hard water deposits, you might also pick up some medium/high-grit wet dry sandpaper up through 1000-2000 grit or so, IF you're looking for a high polish; follow that with the metal polish mentioned above. The wet/dry sandpaper in higher grit can also be found in automotive finishing supplies (look for 3M paper). Stainless flatware can also look very good with a medium-grit 'satin' finish in the 320-600 grit range; that can usually be found at a big-box home supply center (Home Depot, Lowe's, perhaps Walmart as well). The green Scotch-Brite pads found in the cleaning supplies at the grocery store also do a nice job applying a satin finish to stainless flatware. I've used all of these to clean up some of my own stainless flatware, so I know they'll work. :)

(I know this is an old thread. But, in re-addressing the original subject, I'll just say using toothpaste on hardened cutlery is a waste of time. It won't do anything significant for a knife blade, if anything at all. Seeing the topic come up repeatedly on the forum, I've re-tried it a few times for the benefit of the doubt, and it has NEVER worked at all.)


David
 
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DB731 said:
Would any of these work? By polishing I meant restoring to mirror finish (if possible).


http://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/dremel-polishing-compound/0000000011898

http://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/brasso-metal-polish-8-oz-/0000000220697

http://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/scotch-brite-stainless-steel-cleaner-polish/0000000205367
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By themselves, I doubt any one of those will take stainless all the way to true mirror; that almost always requires at least some high-grit sanding as well as polishing. If the Dremel compound is the same stuff I've tried (red compound), it may not work on stainless at all; nor likely the Brasso, as it's intended for brass and other softer metals. The description of the 'Scotch-Brite Cleaner & Polish' is vague enough, I'm not sure about it, either way. Some of those 'polishing' cleaners for the kitchen don't do much true polishing, as compared to products really made for it (Flitz/Simichrome/etc).


David
 
Flitz lies. You can't polish without abrasion.
Simichrome is a finer polish.
 
DB731 said:
Flitz/Simichrome, would they work with a hand towel? Any similar ones?
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Yes. A microfiber towel works well; that's what I've used. Other polishing products, such as MAAS polish or Autosol should work as well, depending on if they're available to you. Still keep in mind, going to a true mirror likely won't be possible, unless all visible scratches have been previously sanded out. Unscratched stainless can still take on a high polish, but any rougher scratches will stand out, and the polishing paste alone won't likely remove them.


David
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Flitz lies. You can't polish without abrasion.
Simichrome is a finer polish.
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True, Flitz is still abrasive. Some manufacturers will throw around the 'non-abrasive' descriptions, but only because they won't leave scratches visible by naked eye. If they didn't abrade at all, they also wouldn't polish at all. Per the Flitz product description in the previous link:

"•Not for lacquered brass finishes or gold electroplating"
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They mention that specifically, because it'll strip the laquer or plated finishes off. That's definitely abrasion. ;)

Per replies from the manufacturers of Flitz and Simichrome, as requested by a forum member some time back:
Flitz grit size = ~3µ (aluminum oxide)
Simichrome grit size = ~9µ (aluminum oxide)

Simichrome does leave a very high polish, after starting fairly aggressively in removing metal. I haven't yet tried Flitz, though many others on the forum have and they've liked it.


David
 
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Obsessed with Edges said:
Per replies from the manufacturers of Flitz and Simichrome, as requested by a forum member some time back:
Flitz grit size = ~3µ (aluminum oxide)
Simichrome grit size = ~9µ (aluminum oxide)

Simichrome does leave a very high polish, after starting fairly aggressively in removing metal. I haven't yet tried Flitz, though many others on the forum have, and have liked it.
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So the smaller grit size = finer polish? ...or the other way around?

I definitely have to get some of this stuff, probably BOTH. :D:D

Is it accurate to say that I should look for "aluminum oxide" when looking at these types of compounds? As far as skin protection, I am assuming a pair of nitrile gloves will do?


PS would fine (?0000) steel wool have any rule in these operations?
 
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DB731 said:
So the smaller grit size = finer polish? ...or the other way around?

I definitely have to get some of this stuff, probably BOTH. :D:D

Is it accurate to say that I should look for "aluminum oxide" when looking at these types of compounds? As far as skin protection, I am assuming a pair of nitrile gloves will do?


PS would fine (?0000) steel wool have any rule in these operations?
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I'm of the impression that the 'larger' Simichrome grit polishes at a much finer level than the 9µ grit size would imply. It's possible the grit breaks down somewhat in use; some manufacturers design that characteristic into the grit they produce, to start with very fast metal removal, then finish more gently at a higher polish as the grit breaks down. I wouldn't worry too much about the size spec, though, as either one should bring up a high shine. There's obviously no harm in trying both, so feel free if you want to. I haven't tried the Flitz yet myself, but likely will at some point, if I find it conveniently available.

Aluminum oxide polishing (or 'buffing') compounds work a lot better than others using something like silica grit (like Brasso and other 'soft metal' polishes) or iron oxide ('red rouge'). It's often not easy to find such specific abrasive identifiers on product labels, though. Look for products that specifically list 'hard metals' or 'stainless steel' among the metals they'll work on. The hardware-store type of stick compounds used with buffing wheels will often be labelled for such uses (look for 'white rouge' or grey compounds labelled for stainless or hard metals; those will be aluminum oxide, most likely). If you don't see that on the labels, and you do see just brass, silver, aluminum or gold listed, there's a good chance they're using abrasives that are softer than aluminum oxide, which would often be too aggressive on softer metals, especially on very thin-plated surfaces (look for those warnings on the label, as I pointed out earlier for Flitz).

Steel wool won't likely polish much, as it'll often be a bit softer than a lot of cutlery steels. It's often recommended for cleaning rust off of knife blades without scratching them, which is a strong clue. ;)


David
 
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DB731 said:
Since I hijacked the original thread, led me add something relevant to the original idea:

http://www.sheltondentistry.com/patient-information/article-toothpaste-abrasivity/

http://www.williamsonperio.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Toothpaste-Abrasiveness-Ranked-by-RDA.pdf

http://barthanddanner.com/downloads/recommendations-toothpaste.pdf
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I'd seen a couple of those pages; they rate the relative abrasivity of toothpastes on teeth (enamel, dentin), all of which are still considerably softer than most hardened cutlery steels. Some of the toothpastes will be more abrasive on teeth than others, but still fall short of doing much of anything on hardened steel. If they WERE actually hard enough for that, I'd avoid (like the plague) using them on my teeth. There's sort of a common-sense 'reality check' in that, when you think about it. ;)

The linked pages are definitely an eye-opener though, in terms of choosing a good toothpaste for your teeth. :thumbup:


David
 
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