Of all the track cleaning methods socalled gleaming seems to be the most effective and with lasting effect. Gleaming is done with a piece o0f steel with a perfectly flat surface. Since I didn't succeed in obtaining such a piece of steel I asked myself whether a whetstone might not be used instead. I use the whetstone to sharpen Exacto and scalpel knife blades. Has anyone ever tried a whetstone to gleam track?
A whetstone is still an abrasive designed for cutting - not what you want for the burnishing method.
The steel you need must be stainless steel. The most common object for burnishing is a stainless steel fender washer. They are about 1-1/2 inches in diameter with a small hole in the middle. I use hot glue to attach a small wooden block to the back side for easy handling.
If you Google burnishing, you'll find it's a process used in the tool and die industry for smoothing and hardening the surface of metals .... which is what you are wanting to accomplish to the the top of the railhead.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
Stainless steel fender washers are readily available at any Lowe's, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, etc. in the hardware section where all the loose nuts and bolts and stuff are. Look for one that's wide enough to span both rails at the same time. For HO, 1-1/2" diameter works pretty well. It's been a while since I got mine, but I can't imagine they'd be more than $1 each.
Others have used the back side of a stainless steel spoon - readily available from your kitchen drawer or most thrift stores (keep it for modeling use - I wouldn't use it for eating again).
Dan Stokes
My other car is a tunnel motor
Be sure there aren't any burrs on the washer. You can polish and round the washer edges first.
Richard
Train Modeler Be sure there aren't any burrs on the washer. You can polish and round the washer edges first. Richard
The washers I have were obviously punched, so they have one smooth, slightly convex side and one slightly concave side with sharp edges. Running a finger across the center hole will tell you which side is which. Use the smooth side for burnishing.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with gleemed rails)
I can attest to the gleaming process. I recently started running trains after a long lapse in the hobby (over a year and a half) and after wiping/vacuuming the dust off, all the places I've gleamed still provide smooth running.