I just looked at one of the aluminum riving knives I made about 5 years ago. This thing is still shinning. It was polished using a buffing wheel and then some Mother's polish. It however hasn't been in any weather.
I use a ROS with the finest grit possible most of the time. Most of my production parts are powder coated, so it really doesn't matter too much. I did use a sand blaster with glass beads for awhile. I still use this for some raw parts. Puts a nice matte finish on it. Glass beads will deform sheet and smaller parts though. Especially when doing only one side. It can really induce a curve in a flat sheet.
There are so many different finishes possible and the steps and results vary widely. If milling the entire block, then I like the look of fresh milled aluminum as long as it's done on an accurate machine. It just screams precision when done right
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Lee |