Letter 13987

Scratch on stainless  

An elderly family friend accidentally put a long horizontal scratch on our brand new stainless refrigerator. It appears to have a clear coat. Is there anything that can be done to eliminate or at least reduce the scratch?

Betty Persson
- Oakhurst, CA, USA

It's doubtful the stainless has any coating on it, the surface finish is basically scratches going all in one direction. If the scratch looks white around the edges you may actually have a clear coat which will prevent you from doing the following. You should find in a hardware store the rubberized sanding blocks or emery paper to produce the scratches. You will need to try an area out of sight to see if the grit size matches the scratch pattern of your fridge. You sand in one direction, you may need a bit of elbow grease or a light touch depending upon the scratch. If you have an old stainless bowl use it to try out your scratching.

Good Luck.

Wayne McKee
- Mississauga, Ont, Canada

Betty,

I hope you haven't sanded the front of you refrigerator yet, because it will never match the unretouched areas. The brushed appearance is made by about a 120 grit ROTATING wheel of sandpaper. When anyone tries a block sander it will make long grain lines instead of short ones and look totally different. Don't try anything more aggressive that buffing it out with a power tool like one would use for car buffing. You will need to do the entire surface to make the gloss uniform. Then email the refrigerator manufacturer and ask why they didn't put a long grain repairable finish on the door because this happens all the time.

Dr. Michael McGuire
- Pittsburgh, PA, USA

In response to letter #13987, What was the outcome? Did you use the suggestion of Wayne or Betty? I have a s.s. stove with a large scratch and before I do anything I would really like to know your solution and how did it look?

Renee Taylor
- Sunset, Louisiana, USA

Ed. note: Please also see our FAQ, "Repairing scratches in stainless steel refrigerator doors".

Ed. note: Please see letter 8204 for a September 2006 report from a reader on the successful resolution of stainless steel scratches with Brasso Stainless Steel Polish and WD40.

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