Wire Wool Drill Bit?

[rossyl]

I need to polish a bare metal cast iron fireplace.

I will be using mainly WD40 on wire Wool.

(I will NOT be using black grate polish' or anything that will "paint" the cast iron black, it's meant to be bare metal).

To speed up the job,I'd like to use a machine! The fireplace is huge.

I wondered what drill bit I could use that will polish the cast iron fireplace, and won't scratch it to hell.

Grateful for recommendations

Thanks

[sparkythecat]

You can get Scotchbrite pads to use in an orbital sander or a drill mounted sanding disc. Used ‘wet and dry’ with WD 40 as a lubricant they should bring it up a treat

[g7jtk]

Wrap wire wool around a wire brush on your drill or grinder

[OutInTheShed]

There are all sorts of tools like sial polishing mops used with coarse polishing 'soap', or scotchbrite type abrasive mesh wheels.
You might start off with a flap disc on the roughest areas.
You can also use various grades of w&d paper.

Much depends on how rough the starting point is, and how much of the texture you wish to remove.

Are you looking to actually get a 'bare metal' finish or a shiny 'oiled black' fiinish?
You may want some chemical treatment to get what you want and end up with a stable 'oxide' surface.

[mgtony]

I'm wondering if a brass wire brush on an angle grinder will do the job? Even the steel cup or twist brushes on an angle grinder seem to give a smoothish finish on steel.

[rossyl]

Here it is.

I'm worried that a brass wire brush would be too harsh.

Edited by rossyl on Monday 14th October 20:36

[OutInTheShed]

I'd be worried that a brass wire brush would leave a lot of brass embedded in the iron surface.

I think this is beyond what I know about metal finishing.
I'd suggest doing careful, targetted research to avoid doing something you can't undo.

Cast iron is complicated stuff, that much I'm sure of!

[wolfracesonic]

I recently used one of these on some cast iron hoppers, they were a bit more gentle than the steel twist knot wheel I also bought, if not as fast or as long lasting. Beautiful surround btw.

From Toolstation.

[rossyl]

wolfracesonic said:

I recently used one of these on some cast iron hoppers, they were a bit more gentle than the steel twist knot wheel I also bought, if not as fast or as long lasting. Beautiful surround btw.

From Toolstation.

Legend thank you!

[OutInTheShed]

rossyl said:

Here it is.

I'm worried that a brass wire brush would be too harsh.

Edited by rossyl on Monday 14th October 20:36

The way that looks on my screen, it doesn't just look like polished cast iron?

I'd be doing some research in case polishing the surface off is the wrong thing?

In ye olden days, there were a lot of chemical surface treatments.
some of which you don't want to be breathing too much dust from, should you abrade them.
Take care, it's an interesting item.

[LooneyTunes]

FWIW, the first thing I’d try is some simple metal polish (Brasso or similar), used gently, to see how it looks with a gentle surface clean.

You can progressively work it back more if you need to, but go at it too hard the outset and you’re fully committed (and you’ll probably need to do the more intricate bits by hand anyway?).