"gleam" method source for stainless steel?

[Blind Bruce]

I have read a lot about the gleam track cleaning methob but have never seen an explaination about the steel washer used. An earlier reply to a thread said a "round edge". Why round? And, how do you burnish those small areas where the rails are at different heights? Why stainless? Wouldn't regular steel work as well? How do you tell when the rail is burnished "enough"?

I know these are a lot of questions but I really can't find the qnswers on any previous thread.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I use a piece of a stainless steel (not plated) spoon handle as my burnishing tool. You want the edge rounded so it doesn't dig into the railhead. I've tried using regular steel. It doesn't work nearly as well. As for knowing when the railheads are burnished enough, you'll be able to feel it. At first the railheads will feel bumpy as you rub the stainless steel along it but after a few strokes it starts to smooth out. When it feels like there's not any more bumps on that section you're there. Move on to the next section.

[donhalshanks]

A large stainless steel washer which also has a round and not sharp edge works fine for me, using it as Jeffrey describes.  Gleem is the way to go in my mind.

Hal

[stokesda]

A large stainless steel washer which also has a round and not sharp edge works fine for me, using it as Jeffrey describes.  Gleem is the way to go in my mind.

Hal

Go to the hardware section of Home Depot where all the nuts and bolts and stuff are. They'll have a bunch of parts in tiny plastic bags and blister packs hanging on hooks above the open trays with the bolts and stuff in them. If I recall correctly, the pre-packaged stuff in the little plastic bags are all 99 cents/bag. Look for a plastic bag with large stainless steel fender washers - the one I bought had two approx. 1.5" in overall diameter - perfect for track burnishing.

[tomikawaTT]

Home Despot is where I found my stainless steel fender washers.  They're useful for a lot of things around a layout with all-steel benchwork.

The washers are manufactured by punching them out of flat plate, which gives rounded edges on one side and sharp edges on the other.  Trust me, your fingers will tell you the difference.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[Autobus Prime]

Folks:

An old butter knife works pretty well too, for polishing loose pieces of track. It's a bit unwieldy on the layout. What does not work is building a "polishing pad" by gluing washers to a piece of wood and putting it on a slider-type track cleaning car. Worked well until it got to the first switch, then short!

The reason for using stainless steel is to make sure the miniscule amount of rubbed-off steel that might get embedded in teh railhead does not flash-rust afterwards. I'm not sure this would be a huge problem, actually, given that the brass or NS should be a lot softer (Tyco steel seems softer as well), but it does seem plausible.