The Crafty Viking: The Viking Helmet (Part 9)

PRETTY!

I FINALLY got it shiny!

The key was more pounding with a hammer. I finally figured out that I had to smooth the metal using a regular flat anvil, so I bought one online from Grizzly for $25 plus $10 shipping (http://www.grizzly.com/products/G7065). I also made a real planishing ball out of a shot-put. This was needed to back the steel rivets and for further metal smoothing. My wooden post was a good friend, but had to be retired.

This blog post is all about how I finally got the panels to shine!

Step one was to hammer it on the flat anvil with the flatter (but still rounded) side of the ball-peen hammer. The subtle curve of the hammer is important, as it reduces the surface are where the hammer makes contact with the work piece, allowing a targeted strike that will take out a lump but not flatten the curve of the piece. This is the same principle for the flatness of the 'planishing' hammer. If you compare the two hammers, you'll see that the planishing hammer is very flat, whereas the ball-peen hammer has a subtle rounded curve. Use the flat plansishing hammer backed with the ball and the rounded ball-peen (NOT the peening end of the hammer, but the flatter end) backed by the flat anvil when working on curved metal. Feel the surface with your fingers to find areas that need more work.

Step two: Finishing Disk. I used my Angle Grinder with an ultra-power gator 4-1/2" fine finishing disk. This took the rust and the gunk off and smoothed the surface.

Step three: Wet sanding. I didn't do enough of this because I don't have the patience for it. I worked my way up to a 1000 grit, but I think I read online that 600 is enough. One good trick is to sand all one direction with each grit, that way you'll know when you've sanded away the previous grit when there's no more crosshatching on the surface of the metal.

Step four: Polishing: I found a three disk polishing kit and a three piece compound kit side by side in Home Depot. It's a lot of work, but in the end it was worth it considering how much time I had already put into this crazy helmet!

My planishing ball. I drilled a big hole in it with my drill press then stuck a piece of threaded rod in it. I stuck the other end longways in a piece of 2x6 then plopped it in my bench vise.