I just spent the last 90 minutes looking over a host of posts here and elsewhere, on the general subject of rail cleaning, specifically whether or not to use abrasive "bright boy" style products. Surprisingly (to me at least) some folks still apparently swear by them. I keep wondering why anyone would, as I have, gone to the trouble of laying track only to grind it down. Even though a word often used to describe the damage abrasive cleaners create along rail heads is "microscopic," the problems of sharp abrasive trails of scratches seem ultimately self defeating.
There were a few - just a very few - mentions of rail burnishing, but I haven't seen anyone discuss it in greater length than passing mention.
Does anyone - has anyone regularly burnished their rail?
In my wood shop I often use steel scrapers finishing wood surfaces, so I acquired the tools to maintain those scrapers. One such tool is a hard steel burnisher, which gets used often.
I'm wondering if anyone has comments about the efficacy of actually burnishing their rail? Seems to me there'd be some merit to at least occasionally doing so, but if anyone is willing to share experience that's be awesome.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Plus one, emphatically. I followed this method when Jeff posted it. I swear by it.I DO NOT clean track anymore, unless some scenery material slops on it. Then, a wipe with some alcohol on a scrap of cotton, rub a steel washer over it then a chunk of cork roadbed and I'm good to go.
I haven't run ANY trains for at least 2 months and I can say with certainty if I turn on my Digitrax system I will be running trains without stops or stutters on my sound engines. Well, unless something has fallen across the track. Like a tree or something.
My layout resides in a finished 30' x 42' basement, and takes up the entire area. It was at least 95% fininshed when I heard of this method. Yes, absoulutley it was a PITA to follow the procedure.
But I'm glad I did.
YMMV
Terry
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
I'm a big fan of the gleaming method, but have come to the conclusion that the heavier grit paper...
"1) 400 wet/dry paper to remove the extrusion milling left on the railheads. The block must span both rails. And 2] Now use 600 or finer, repeat process."
...is not necessary. In fact it just makes the burnishing step much longer and harder.
My Gleaming Kit now has sheets of abrasive grit values of 1000, 2000, 4000, 6000 and 12,000 (and you can skip steps). Once you get to the 12,000 grit, burnishing with the washer is an option since the mirror shine is already there.
And it sure saves a lot of the old "elbow grease!" I'm not sure I could even find my old bright-boy now.
Jim
The progressive use of higher grits is subtractive machining. Burnishing is a different process: it forces down the peaks of the 'scratches' left by the abrasive, and can work-harden the surface.
Part of the reason to use the full range of grits is to remove any existing pitting from 'micro-arcing' and to keep the scratch peaks from acting as formation sites for new ones. The Bright Boy surface finish fails miserably at providing other than intermittent line contacts between wheeltread and railhead.
I personally like the use of lapping film applied to a properly-shaped hard (e.g. glass) lap that shapes the railheads to a proper contour as well as smooths their surface finish. But the 'final step' even with very fine grit ought to be burnishing.