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Stainless Steel Polishing Services

Shaw Stainless is an industry leader when it comes to stainless steel polishing services. Our stainless polishing services is a secondary process on mill finish stainless steel that produces an aesthetically pleasing surface finish. Our diverse stainless steel polishing equipment allows us to offer a variety of finishes on many different types of products – including polished stainless steel pipe, polished stainless steel tube, polished stainless round bar, polished stainless square bar, polished stainless flat bar, polished stainless angle, polished stainless steel plate, polished stainless sheet and even polished stainless fittings. The complexity of the product effects how labor-intensive the stainless steel polishing process is, which determines the cost – with polished stainless steel pipe or polished stainless steel tube being the most streamlined, and polished stainless fittings or inside of angle requiring a hand-held tool being the most complex.

Our mechanical stainless steel polishing services is accomplished by utilizing abrasive materials on rotary equipment. This can be achieved by using hand-held tools for difficult to access or unusually shaped parts or automated processes for larger areas depending on project requirements. To achieve a polished stainless surface, a series of abrasive grits are applied in a successively finer sequence until the desired finish or surface roughness is achieved.

Surface roughness is a measure of the texture of a surface. It is quantified by the vertical deviations of a real surface from its ideal form. If these deviations are great, the surface is rough; if they are small, the surface is smooth.

Standard Surface Finishes of Stainless Steel:

Surface finishes on stainless steel are generally selected for appearance, although degree and extent of forming and welding should be taken into consideration. Where forming is severe, or much welding is involved, it is often more economical to use a cold rolled finish material and then polish.

Unpolished Finishes

No. 1 Finish: Hot rolled, annealed and descaled. Produced by hot rolling followed by annealing and descaling. Generally used in industrial applications, such as for heat or corrosion resistance, where smoothness of finish is not of particular importance.

No. 2D Finish: A dull cold rolled finish produced by cold rolling, annealing, and descaling. The dull finish may result from the descaling or pickling operation or may be developed by a final light cold roll pass on dull rolls. The dull finish is favorable for the retention of lubricants on the surface in deep drawing operations. The finish is generally used in forming deep drawn articles which may be polished after fabrication.

No. 2B Finish: A bright cold rolled finish commonly produced in the same manner as No. 2D, except that the annealed and descaled sheet receives a final light cold rolled pass on polished rolls. This is a general purpose cold rolled finish. It is commonly used for all but exceptionally difficult deep drawing applications. This finish is more readily available than No. 1 or No. 2D Finish.

BA Finish: (Bright annealed) bright cold rolled and controlled atmosphere annealed to retain highly reflective finish.

Polished Finishes

No. 3 Finish: A polished finish obtained with abrasives approximately 100 mesh, and which may or may not be additionally polished during fabrication.

No. 4 Finish: A general purpose polished finish widely used for restaurant equipment, kitchen equipment, store fronts, dairy equipment, etc. Following initial grinding with coarser abrasives, sheets are generally finished last with abrasives approximately 120 to 150 mesh.

No. 6 Finish: is a dull satin finish having lower reflectivity than No. 4 Finish. It is produced by Tampico brushing No. 4 Finish sheets in a medium of abrasive and oil. It is used for architectural applications and ornamentation where a high luster is undesirable; it is also used effectively to contrast with brighter finishes.

No. 7 Finish: has a high degree of reflectivity. It is produced by buffing of finely ground surface, but the grit lines are not removed. It is chiefly used for architectural and ornamental purposes.

No. 8 Finish: is the most reflective finish that is commonly produced. It is obtained by polishing with successively finer abrasives and rubbing extensively with very fine buffing rouges. The surface is essentially free of grit lines from preliminary grinding operations. This finish is most widely used for press plates, as well as for mirrors and reflectors.

Stainless steel sheets can be produced with one or two sides polished. When polished on one side only, the other side may be rough ground in order to obtain the necessary flatness.

* Standard stainless steel stock polished finish is between 100 - 180 Grit (#3 to #4)

Stainless Steel Polishing

Circumferential Polish

Brushed Finish Polish

Polished Stairs

4 Foot Wide CNC “Wet” Sander Flat Polisher

Polished Finishes

#Finish

RMS

30-45

25-40

18-30

15-25

14-20

12-18

5-9

4-8

1-5

0-4

Surface Measurements Comparison

RMS
(Micro-inch)

RMS
(Micron)

RA
(Micro-inch)

RA
(Micron)

Grit Size

2.03

1.8

1.47

1.32

120

1.2

1.06

150

0.86

0.76

180

0.43

0.38

240

0.36

0.3

320

Grit Size Comparison

Grit Size

Avg Particle Size (in)

0.2577

0.2117

0.1817

0.1366

0.1003

0.083

0.0655

0.0528

0.0408

0.0365

0.028

0.02

0.017

0.016

0.0131

0.0105

0.0085

100

0.0068

120

0.0056

600

0.00033

900

0.00024