Been dabbling in Stainless trim repair
 

SO my first start at repairing Stainless Steel trim. Here are a couple of dents that are "Almost" done and ready for buffing. Before and afters

Re: Been dabbling in Stainless trim repair
 

PLUS one I didn't take a picture of BUT was creased and bent by getting pinched in the passenger front door at some point, almost buffed to perfection.

Re: Been dabbling in Stainless trim repair
 

Nice! What tools are you using for the repairs?

Re: Been dabbling in Stainless trim repair
 

Nice!!....there’s some video on YouTube channel “Coldwarmotors”. He does a lot of stainless repair......Mark

Re: Been dabbling in Stainless trim repair
 

Lol....anything that looks like it will work for what I need to accomplish. I have a trim anvil & Hammer from Eastwood, I also use various punches, Awl, screwdriver, Taper Pins, Nylon stock, railroad track, wood, wood dowels, file, 220, 300, 400 wet/dry sandpaper...... again whatever looks like it will work. I have found the "closer"" you get to getting the "final" result you want, the "softer" the materials (nylon & wood) the better!!!! OH and finally a 1 hp 10" buffer with grey and white rouge.


Plus a lot of "technique" involved and in "some" instances I don't use the hammer at all!!! Just hand strength works in some cases.

Re: Been dabbling in Stainless trim repair
 

Nice work! I tried a cowl band from a model A, it came out ok, but not that nice.
I have a 47 coupe I’m working on that needs some trim repair. Maybe I’ll send it to you:)

Re: Been dabbling in Stainless trim repair
 

Be happy to give it a whirl for you!! Send me a few pictures [email protected]

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Rock, I take my hat off to ya. That doesn't look easy. Have you seen Scott at Cold war motors do that sort of thing? That is the only time Ive seen it done and I was really impressed at how hard it is but he was making it look easy.

Well done.

Mart.

Re: Been dabbling in Stainless trim repair
 

Thank you Mart that was very kind of you, its sort of like catching Sheephead fish, you have to set the hook a split second before he bites it!!! To say...... you have to sort of feel and know when to stop pecking just before its too late!!!! You must'nt be in any hurry!!! AND the one dent on the piece that had two in one area was/is much harder to deal with and I am "still" pecking at it, about 95% done BUT IF you really look at the big horizontal dent (first picture, right hand dent)...it has three spots were it looks like someone with a "nail" pushed them in, those are extremely difficult to deal with!!!!! AND For some reason the "after" picture of the third picture, first post WILL NOT upload for anything, I've "unlocked it" and tried three times and it will not up load

Re: Been dabbling in Stainless trim repair
 

I have dabbled around with some SS trim repair, had very good luck with the finished product.
A friend of mine showed me a neat trick, using a drill press, chuck up whatever tool you are using to work the dent out, using the drill press to push the dent (s) in lieu of beating them out with a hammer/mallet.

Re: Been dabbling in Stainless trim repair
 

That's a cool Idea, I'll have to try that too.

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Second the drill press idea. Works good!

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Nice work!

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Scott makes everything look easy. I've tried to copy his techniques but nothing I do ever turns out that well.

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^^ Same here, Ralph. The "your results may vary" never rang truer than when trying to emulate Scott.

Mart.

Re: Been dabbling in Stainless trim repair
 

I wanted to polish up some of the SS trim on my '46 Deluxe, as it was scratched and dull. I bought a buffer, buffing wheels and polishing compound from Princess Auto, (Harbor Freight in USA) to see what I could do to clean up the trim. I perused several videos on u-tube and went at it. Good success with bringing the shine back on the parts I worked on. For the trim on the side of the body, I masked the body at the top and bottom edges of the trim, then used a 4" dia. buffing wheel mounted on my 3/8" drill, with the wheel running parallel to the trim for polishing. I could have done a better job by removing the trim and polishing on the big buffer, but I didn't want to risk damaging the trim or paint. The picture is of the tail and park light trim

Re: Been dabbling in Stainless trim repair
 

I have restored several S.S. items, it requires a lot of time and concentration. I use a lot of different techniques and tools, one of the most useful tools is a urethane block that i use as a dolly. It will support the surrounding metal while you move the displaced metal without stretching it. Very useful when you're working on hubcap skins that are only 0.012" thick. I tried to post a couple of images, but failed.
Tom

Re: Been dabbling in Stainless trim repair
 

I had a '55 Ford in the late '50's that got rear 1/4 panel damage and I watched the body man trying to install the 1/4 side trim and he damaged it snapping it on the clips, enraged, he tore it off, totally destroying it, and ordered another new trim piece. Today, it would have been easily repaired!

Re: Been dabbling in Stainless trim repair
 

These are the worst pieces on the 47 I’m working on.

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back in my tri5 chevy days i bought side trim from a guy that thats all he did was fix 5-6-7 stainless trim. had a 2 car garage full of it, and made a nice living with very little $ in tools