SELECTING AND USING STEEL WOOL

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  • Ken
    15 February 2013 at 3:09 am #7971

    Grade
     Number
    Common Uses

    Coarse
     3
    Paint and varnish removal; removing paint spots from resilient floors.

    Medium coarse
     2
    Removing scratches from brass; removing paint spots from ceramic tile; rubbing floors between finish coats.

    Medium
     1
    Rust removal; cleaning glazed tiles; removing marks from wood
    floors; with paint and varnish remover, removing finishes.

    Medium fine
     0
    Brass finishing; cleaning tile; with paint and varnish remover, removing stubborn finishes.

    Fine
     00
    With linseed oil, satinizing high-gloss finishes.

    Extra fine
     000
    Removing paint spots or stains from wood; cleaning polished metals; rubbing between finish coats.

    Super fine
     0000
    Final rubbing of finish; stain removal.

    Ken Dart
    15 February 2013 at 9:11 am #7984

    Nice one Ken.Very useful I wondered what all those oooo’s were for!!

    Michael van Zadelhoff
    15 February 2013 at 12:26 pm #8004

    Ken, you forgot one! The 5×0. I once ordered the 4×0 and received the 5×0.

    Btw: welcome back 🙂

    [email protected]

    Ken
    15 February 2013 at 1:06 pm #8010

    Thanks Ken, Michael. I have never seen 5×0 not in the uk anyway, It must be super, super fine. 🙂

    Justjoe
    15 February 2013 at 1:55 pm #8017

    This post reminding me of that Siafleece stuff. Does anyone use them? They look like those scourers you use for washing up. A friend lent me one for sanding an oak chair between coats of Danish Oil instead of using 0000 wire wood, because the iron will react with the tanning I guess. I don’t no whether the scourer pad sanding thing I used was a Siafleece. That’s just the only brand I could find on google. They come in many different grades.

    http://www.sandingshed.co.uk/product/product&path=75&product_id=4362

    Lincolnshire, England
    www.joesleightwoodworker.co.uk

    Michael van Zadelhoff
    15 February 2013 at 2:46 pm #8022

    Ken thanks Ken, that ‘s weird :). I have never seen 4×0. I think the package looks the same only there’s an 0 missing. I was hoping you knew the difference.

    [email protected]

    Greg Merritt
    7 April 2013 at 6:23 pm #10589

    Does anyone use the synthetic steel wool or 3M pads (white)?  The steel wool (0000) that I have been buying at the home center is junk!  It falls apart very quickly and gets into all of the nooks and crannies of my project.  I have to vacuum (hoover? for our british friends) it out.  Please let me know of your experiences with actual or synthetic.

    Thanks…

    http://hillbillydaiku.com

    Florian
    7 April 2013 at 8:15 pm #10593

    Hi Greg,

    I haven’t used the pads or the synthetic steel wool, I use 0000 from Rakso which is quite pricy for 12 Euro/200 gramm. In the home centers I couldn’t find any finer than triple zero so I was happy to get it at the hardware store around the corner.

    My experience is similar to yours. If the surface is very smooth and free of the smallest defects the wool works well and stays intact. Especially end grain has to be very smooth. So far I haven’t read the instruction on the packing, but now I did  it and it says that the fibres of the wool should always be held at 90 degrees to the direction of abrasion.

     

     

    I enjoy working wood in Germany.

    Jim Burcicki
    25 April 2013 at 5:13 pm #11378

    Hey Everyone,

    I know that this thread is a bit older from February 2013, but, I remembered reading a posting just a few days back about using steel wool. I looked around and couldn’t find it so I decided to use this thread.

    I was online at Gramercy Tools and came across this Norton-Bear-Tex Nylon Hand Pad.

    http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/dept/TFA/item/NO-BTPAD.XX/Norton_Bear-Tex_Nylon_Hand_Pads

    I also came across the Liberon Oil Free Steel Wool both of which I am purchasing and will give a try.

    http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/item/LB-0440.XX/Liberon_Oil_Free_Steel_Wool

    In reading about the steel wool, a tip says that you should cut the steel wool with scissors and not tear it apart like I always do.

    Funny, when preparing the vegatable lettuce, chefs recommend you tear the lettuce when I always cut it with a knife which is just the opposite of steel wool so I am doing both incorrectly! lol

    Jim

     

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