Metal finishing Q&As since 1989

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Finishes for mild steel metalworking school project

2003

hello,

I am a year 10 student studying metalwork at school as my year 10 major project I will be making a tree-like hat and coat stand I will be using mild steel to create the stand and would like to know of finishing options available to me. could you please send me all options of finishing so that I can include them in the research section of my folio

thank you

zara

Zara Maxwell-Smith
- bowral, NSW, Australia

Sorry, Zara, that one is impossible :-(

There are as many possible finishes for your mild steel fabrication as there were choices of what to make in the first place. You could greatly cut down on the list by deciding you are going to paint it, and then talk about what very low volume painting processes are practical. Or you could take one element of the finishing process like comparing sandblasting to solvent wiping to phosphatization as possible pretreatments before painting.

Good luck!

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2003

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2003

When you say finish...I take it you mean the finished look of your prjoect..."The Tree Stand"? Are you going to make "leaves"...small "branches" coming from the trunk which will be the main support of your stand. Are you going to give the tree the look of one...perhaps you can practice the effects of filing metal by using different grades of files, banging on sheet metal pieces with different hammers ...even the use of power grinders under proper safe conditions will give you varying effects.

Depending on the look you are chasing wether it should be a smooth barked "tree" or not effects and finish are possible so long as you experiment...it is a journey of discovery..one you can document yourself. I'll give you an example...the long eucalyptus leaves..can be cut with tin snips...drawing the lines on the leaves can give you a vein like look...one central line with some shooting off staggering off from the central line. You can highlight this with a hammer and a broad head chisel. Lying the "leaf" on a stable block of wood you smack life into the sheet metal "leaf"..it starts to curl and can take a few moments to spring into life. Ask your metalwork teacher to give you some pointers...experiment yourself...have a go..or go to a bedding shop that sells imported metal bed frames that have been "metallized".

Metalwork is fun....why not send a digital image on metalwork progress...I'm sure others can help you discover finishes.

Regards,

Michael Hein
- Sydney, NSW, Australia