How to create a brushed metal look on Bolts???

[Marc A. Thurston]

I recently took some bolts to a local shop for plating.  Upon inspection of the final product I determined that the bolts were too shiny for the engine application that I need.  The owner of the shop suggested that I finish the bolts in a brushed metal finish.  He further suggested that I complete this step on my own as it is "easy" and would save me money. 

On my first attempt to duplicate the sample that the shop provided I used a fine grit emory cloth.  Although the results were close to the sample, it took me 3 hours to finish 2 bolts...I have a total of 56 to complete!

I contacted Eastwoods to see if they had any suggestions regarding a tool that might make this process easier. Unfortunately they did not have any suggestions.

If anyone has any suggestions on a technique or tool to achieve the brushed metal appearance, I would be VERY appreciative if you could share it.

Thanks

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Try a Dremel tool with a fine grit sanding disc and finish with the wire
brush attachment.   It's much faster -- don't know if it will do exacrly what
you want but it's a heck of alot faster than what you're doing. 

The Dremel is one of my most used tools in my shop.  Mike

[Marc A. Thurston]

Thanks Mike - I will give this a shot.

[Larry F]

Won't the fasteners rust if you do this? Why don't you have them cad or zinc plated?

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Won't the fasteners rust if you do this? Why don't you have them cad or zinc plated?

Your right -- if you remove ALL of the plating they will rust.  However, it should
be possible to give the finish that "brushed" look and take the shine off without
doing that.  If not, you could always spray them with alittle low gloss clear
coat (such as Eastwood makes).

I'm not sure what type of plating was used on these bolts.  Silver Cad, in my
experience is usually not that glossy.

Mike

[Marc A. Thurston]

In hindsight I should have insisted that they use zinc/cad/nickel plating.  Unfortunately is appears that they used a chrome plating.  I am being extra careful to only dull the surface so that I don't have to worry about rust which was the original reason to have them plated.

The lesson of experience...

[Ralph Messina CLC 4937]

Marc,

If you are able to achieve a brushed look on your plated bolts with the Dremel, I strongly suspect your finish is something soft like a nickel or zinc alloy. If that is the case, whatever you remove by brushing weakens the barrier to some extent. Chrome, either hard chrome or triple plate, is very hard and would not ‘brush” with a wire wheel. If you have access to a sand blast cabinet you may want to try plastic bead de-burring or vapor hone. I’m replacing the bolts and washers on my ’66 with stainless. I used soft plastic beads (available through Grainger) to achieve the matte finish. You’ll need a blasting cabinet to recover the beads while processing as the beads are about $55 for 40 pounds……..and 40 pounds goes very quickly in an open air blast set up.

HTH,
Ralph

[Johan Boltendal #158]

Hello Mark,

What bolts are we talking about, the finish in '32 on the V8 was cadmium,parkerised (sort of gloss black)and some chrome or nickle, where did you find all those chrome
nuts and bolts. If you want a different finish take them back, the chrome comes off in no time, they are polished, so another finish is minutes.

Johan

[Marc A. Thurston]

Johan - The bolts were from the manifold area of the car. (We were also going to use the same look on the fasteners that attach the two plates that covers the valves) This was one of the only intact sections of the engine when I purchased it.  Although I was missing a couple of the bolts I was able to match up the existing bolts with the specifications that you sent me.  At this point all of the "original" (?) bolts were a metallic color but more towards the dull versus shiny sheen.  When I saw the example of the brushed metal look. I thought this looked the closest to the original bolts when they were removed.

Since I am having a challenging time tracking down the entire lineage of the car I have been unable to determine how much work had taken place on the engine.  It is hard to verify on some of the items if they were still in their original condition.

Do you think we should make paint these fasteners black?

Marc

[Johan Boltendal #158]

Hello Mark,

All bolts and washers at the manifolds are steel cadmium plated, accc. to the MPL, as to the information regarding the bolts, I have send you,these bolts and washers should all have this cadmium plating.  Good luck
Johan

[John Morris #23947]

Use the wire wheel on your bench grinder, taking seconds per bolt. Be sure NOT to polish too much, you will loose the zinc coating. Too much will also shine them.

[Marc A. Thurston]

Thanks everyone.  I have my weekend homework assignment.

Marc