How do you polish / finish stainless steel?

[DaveO]

Right now I'm planning a rectangular frame in SS angle to support the raised surface, with a round rod bent in a square U shape underneath for legs. Legs would be under the "short" side of the rectangle only to allow sliding the structure from side to side. That's the reason for using angle, to support the long span of whatever the surface material will be, and to prevent the surface from sliding sideways off the support. It would be cool to find some marble, maybe, I just haven't got that far yet.

The amount of exposed weld would be minimal, determined mostly by whether or not I choose an inside or outside weld at the corners, and color or texture matching of the SS is a nice-to-have rather than a gotta-have. I'm thinking the most visual impact will come from the surface material.

Near term I'm planning to get some steel round rod to practice precise bends with an OA torch and welding a length of round rod to a flat surface. Not sure, though, what OA heating does to the SS... do colors from heating buff out?

[its_34]

Sounds like a nice look. How large of a bar and what bend radius? Cold-bending would be best if the bar diameter is not too big and/or radius not too small. The heat discoloration could prove difficult to remove and acheive a uniform finish (it's also complicated by the new shape).

[DaveO]

All the angles would be 90*, and rod diameter I'm thinking 1/4" or so. Sounds like I should plan on cold bending.

Edit: I had the browser open for so long I missed Jakeru's post- I'll give the maroon Scotch brites a shot.

[its_34]

1/4" is definitely a cold bend and to just about any radius you want. With that it will also be very easy to tack up a simple bending jig or just find something round (pipe, rod, etc) and form a nice, smooth bend and make the parts consistent.