Attn Handy Dudes: Sanding flatware

[disenchant]

I posted this on a mom forum and all I got was a bunch of "oh no, I'm so sorry! That happened to me once you see I was blah blah blah..."

Dood, I don't want sympathy, I want ANSWERS! There are lots of dudes on here. And bass players are smart. Can you help?

I dropped a spoon down the garbage disposer and klankety klank it got a lot of nicks on it. Now, I've been using that spoon in the sugar bowl but then I did it AGAIN with a different spoon (damn those tiny spoons!)

Is there a way to sand out the nicks in stainless flatware? I have a nice Dremel tool, can I use that? What kind of tip should I use? I have a big box of Dremel tips, but I've only used my tool for sanding wood. (Shut up Maki, I'm talking about my Dremel!)

Thanks Handy Men. And any Handy Women that happen to be out there too.

[jonathan_matos5]

throw away stainless spoons and a couple butter knives and forks to make the set even. other than that i got nothing. seems like redundant work to me.

[iamlowsound]

I don't see why you can't. Start with a course grit and move on up ti finer ones. If it doesn't work, you are in no worse of a spot than you started in, with an unusable spoon. The secret of being handy is not being afraid of screwing it up and if you do, fix that.

lowsound

[T-Bird]

Hi.

With a Dremel You'll turn the spoons into art-pieces with various ornamental figures .

A fine flat or half round file is the answer toget the sharp nicks out, followed by fine emery paper, preferably wet. Works well on scraped stainless exhaust pipes, so a spoon would be a breeze to do.

Edit: Any pics of the mishap?


Regards
Sam

[R. Laevinus]

It's possible, yeah, but I wouldn't bother. If the item is plated, you'll end up ruining it worse. If it's actually stainless steel through and through, it'll be extremely hard, and a major pain to sand. If the nicks are fairly deep, say a 32nd or a 64th of an inch, you'll end up without a whole lot of spoon once you sand them out.

Frankly, unless the spoon was given to me by a long-dead relative with whom I was very close, I'd toss it. Even if it was, I'd just keep it the way it was. It's still functional, no?

[Chebass88]

1. Make sure the spoon is secured if you attempt to grind it. You don't want it flying across the room from the force of the spinning it.

2. Make sure your finger are out of the way.

3. Try it. At worst you lose a spoon (or an eye & a finger). At best you solve your problem.

4. Learn from the lesson here & don't drop them in the garbage disposal anymore.

SRSLY, though - how bad is it - did it turn a TBS into a tsp?

[Schlyder]

It's a spoon...
They make millions of spoons day....
You are going to spend how much time refurbishing a $2. spoon?
Buy a new spoon...
profit???

Unless it was some kind of magical spoon, why the need to fix said spoon?
And like was mentioned already, if it was plated, grinding or filing it will take the rough edges away, but the plating is going to be ruined. And stainless steel is very tough, so it is going to take more than a few minutes.
So I ask, what is your time worth?
Buy a new spoon man.
It's a spoon.

[jonathan_matos5]

[Rune Bivrin]

Originally Posted by iamlowsound

I don't see why you can't. Start with a course grit and move on up ti finer ones. If it doesn't work, you are in no worse of a spot than you started in, with an unusable spoon. The secret of being handy is not being afraid of screwing it up and if you do, fix that.

lowsound

+1

If you are willing to spend the time just go ahead. I have never heard of stainless plated flatware. I've seen a lot of silver plated, and I suppose there might be nickel plated. But stainless plated? That's got to be a new one!

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Originally Posted by Rune Bivrin

I have never heard of stainless plated flatware. I've seen a lot of silver plated, and I suppose there might be nickel plated. But stainless plated? That's got to be a new one!

Me neither, perhaps it's a "new world" thing and us Europeans have never heard of such a process . Perhaps our US. and CAN. bro's can shed some light on it.

Regards
Sam

[disenchant]

Originally Posted by jonathan_matos5

LMAO!

[disenchant]

Thanks guys!

The spoons are Disney spoons that they don't make anymore. I used them when I was a kid. To me they are special, but not to my daughter, who throws them in the sink where they fall down the drain.

I'll be sure to clamp the spoon to something and wear eyewear. It would be just my luck to go blind from a spoon in my eye.

[newbold]

Get over the disney spoon, guy. Get new flatware instead of drinking so much beer.

[John D@508]

If you know anyone who is into Guns and does "Reloading"...ask them to throw it in their tumbler.