Media blasting keggle finish

So I decided to try to polish a keg today. I had some 60 grit aluminum oxide for my blaster so I figured I would give that a go. It put on a heavy heavy matte finish. Looked good and was consistant but not what I was looking for. So I only did a small section of it. Took some various angle grinder pads I had, (heavy, medium, and fine scrubby types) and got descent results. They are a TON of work though and I am sure it will take $100 worth of pads to do the whole thing...

Oh, where I blasted with the aluminum oxide turned rock hard and didnt take the pad as nicely as the other spots.

So I am thinking about going back to media blasting but would like to get it down to something I can polish. I know I cant use steel shot but what about glass bead or walnut and finally soda. Any one have any experience with this or recomendations?

are you looking to polish them? IF so, you need to go finer, blasting won't fly.

You need to use a dual-action sander and work from 1000-2000/3000 grit. Then you could use a buffer with a wool pad and polishing compound to polish them to a shine. It it really similar to cutting and buffing a car following paint work.
I use the same tools for both.

I guess it depends on how messed up the keg starts. I just started working one that was in pretty nicked up (not really dented through). I started with 100 grit to get the surface even pretty quickly. I guess it took about 20 minutes on the first pass. I plan to go to 400, then 800 and see where that gets me.

I just polished mine using an angle grinder. I started with a cleaning pad that looked kind of like a scotch brite pad. After that, I followed up with a white polishing pad with polishing compound.

I only used one of each pads.

lustreking said:

I just polished mine using an angle grinder. I started with a cleaning pad that looked kind of like a scotch brite pad. After that, I followed up with a white polishing pad with polishing compound.

I only used one of each pads.

Click to expand...

ooh! Purty!

I just cleaned mine up with a mouse sander, but I like the idea of using the grinder. I've still got one to do. I may give that a try.

Depends on how picky you want to be. You can get a shine, a NICE shine, by buffing and still have real nasty scratches in it, or you can attempt to make a perfectly blemish/scratch free surface by starting coarse and going successively finer to the 1000's grit, and THEN buff.

Blasting of any type will make more work.

Bottom line is, nobody will care but you. If it's really shiny, that's all most will see. Chances are that it WILL get scratched in normal use anyway....

My theory is the smoother the surface, the easier to clean.