I bet this has been asked before, but if someone could shoot me a quick answer, I’d appreciate it! I have a scratch on the head of a Burke composite whistle, (thank goodness it wasn’t the start of a crack - scared the heck out of me when I first noticed it)… But no, in bright light, I’ve confirmed that it is just a surface scratch, but I would like to remove the offending mark. I tried to polish it out by rubbing it vigoriously aganist my jersey, but, HA!, I think I just made it appear more pronounced by polishing up the background, (typical for me)… Any (polite) suggestions?
While you’re at it with yer thinking caps,… if you know of a product that could polish up the plastic mouthpiece of random/slight teeth marks, I’d like to know… I don’t bite, personally, but I have a few interesting old “flute-o-phones” that I collect that could use a bit o’shine in that region…
I wouldn’t experiment with Mike’s composite, but for flute-o-phones, etc., here’s what I would do:
The process is, using progressively finer abrasives until you have removed the defects and achieved the finish you want.
Start with fine sandpaper, maybe #220 or #300. Sand off the marks. This will remove some material to get to the bottom of the dents.
When you have a new, defectless surface, go to progressively finer and finer papers. A good place to get such finishing paper is an auto supply house, that carries them for automotive finishes. You may get to #600 or #800 or even #1200.
Anyway, keep polishing with each level of fineness until all the scratchmarks from the next coarser paper have been removed, then go to the next finer paper.
You may decide you’re finished when you get to #600 or so. That will produce a pretty respectable finish.
However, if you want a high shine, you’ll have to figure out how to use finer stuff. That’s where it can get tricky, because a buffing wheel is what is usually used next, but it can overheat and melt plastic.
I would be inclined to get some buffing compound like you would use on a buffing wheel (comes in a stick, kinda like a big crayon inside a cardboard tube) but rub it into a piece of cotton cloth. Then I would try rubbing the plastic by hand with the polishing cloth you’ve created. I believe it will work, but I haven’t tried that exact process.
I have successfully polished scratches out of clear pvc sheet with brasso.
Works on plastic watch faces, eye shields, motorcycle windshields etc.
Use with a soft cloth e.g. yellow duster or silver polishing cloth.
I successfully polished back to shine an old ebony flageolet.
I followed a naval modeller’s advice. After usual sanding (extra-fine grain, wet sanding cloth) I used for final polish a very fine grain steel wool (the packs says grade… 0000 four zeros). Actually, I gave the final spit-shine adding a few drops of linseed oil to this “wool” which feels as fine as, say, rough cotton.
It’s a messy material, and I guess that a paper mask could be advised.
The same stuff works on metals (aluminium, brass, chrome, silver…). On plastic, it leaves a slightly matte finish. This in turn can be polished to shine using tooth powder on a slightly damp cloth.
I saved a few scratched CDs by simply rubbing them with toothpaste, directly rubbed in with my fingers.
After you sand it down and steel wool it to the best possible finish, you can rub in pen wax which is sold at Rockler woodworking or from Packard Woodworks http://www.packardwoodworks.com/. Search for ‘Wax Stick’.