Sanding a graphite reamer.

**1flewover** · 09-08-2012, 12:16 AM

Hello everyone, so I made the mistake of getting my reamer hot enough chip a small part of the tip off. My first thought was to sand it to restore a point, but I am not familiar with the consistency of graphite and I do not want to mess it up even more. What are some of your experiences with fixing a chipped reamer? Thanks for your time guys, have a good night.

**faded** · 09-08-2012, 12:28 AM

i use a small vibrating sander to fix mine. works great. i flip the sander over and work the graphite on top of it's flat surface.

**Logan** · 09-08-2012, 01:05 AM

Never tried to fix an octagonal reamer, but I use wet sand paper on graphite pushes and tapered reamers/flaring tools. Gives them a super smooth and shiny finish. I love my brass octagonal reamer, havent bothered with graphite ones since I started using it.

**hashmasta-kut** · 09-08-2012, 07:04 AM

i have both and use the brass for some things but prefer graphite for many applications. i use a grinder to restore a tip on my graphite tool, but its not an octagon one, its just round tipped.

**Forche** · 09-08-2012, 07:36 AM

I use sandpaper with the tool chucked up in a lathe or drill and then use a sanding sponge to get a finishing texture.

**khan** · 09-08-2012, 07:54 AM

There is really nothing to it... just take some fine sand paper and wrap it around a block of wood or something if you want to restore a flat spot...
For restoring a round place use the sandpaper just with your hand....
Should take about 2 minutes. You can then use some cloth to polish it back to shinny.

Khan

**1flewover** · 09-08-2012, 09:51 AM

Thanks everyone. Sounds like I'l be fixing that thing up easily. I was paranoid thinking it would crumble and get worse. And the reamer I chipped is a round cone reamer. Thanks again!!

**Mr. Wonka** · 09-09-2012, 03:07 PM

Since it's round, just use a pencil sharpener : )

Tom

**menty666** · 09-09-2012, 06:32 PM

Kind of reminds you of the US Space Pen vs. the Russian pencil story

He's right though, if it's not one of the hexagonal or octagonal ones, you can just go that route.

**Matt P** · 09-09-2012, 10:25 PM

Pencil sharpeners are literally designed for graphite

Also, lol @ U.S. space pen

**Aaron Ellis** · 09-09-2012, 11:12 PM

^^^^^^^ what everyone said but I use newspper to polish it off. Keep in mind you don't want a bunch of graphite powder floating around so get it wet B-4 you grind and polish it off.

**Dirty** · 09-10-2012, 11:37 AM

220 grit sand paper, then fine steel wool, and finish the polish off with dry newspaper. smoothest and very shiny graphite you will have young grasshoppa!!!!!

**1flewover** · 09-11-2012, 10:10 PM

Sounds good. Thanks Dirty Miyagi.

**phortwantie** · 09-13-2012, 06:31 AM

I just used a pencil sharpener on my pencil style reamer and it worked like a charm. Took all of 5 seconds to fix.

**Shonbal** · 09-13-2012, 07:44 PM

At the shop I work at, we use wet sandpaper. It cuts down on the dust and it comes in very fine grain. Like Aaron Ellis said, "Keep in mind you don't want a bunch of graphite powder floating around ".

**Slow** · 09-16-2012, 09:56 AM

Not to get off topic, but it sounds like a few of you don't have a good grasp on the whole "space pen" story.

I'll elaborate if you want, but trust me, you missed the point (pun intended).

**1flewover** · 09-20-2012, 09:52 AM

Originally Posted by Slow

Not to get off topic, but it sounds like a few of you don't have a good grasp on the whole "space pen" story.

I'll elaborate if you want, but trust me, you missed the point (pun intended).

Space pen?

**Slow** · 09-20-2012, 01:24 PM

Ok, here goes.

The story that people love to tell is that, because standard ball-point pens need gravity to work properly, NASA spent a shit-ton of tax dollars to develop a pen that would write in zero-gravity, while the Russians solved the problem by simply using pencils. This story is often used to demonstrate how bloated US government budgets are, how unwisely the money is spent, or how we're not as clever as we think we are. Of course, not only does it fail to demonstrate any of those things (not to say they're not true), it is also patently false.

In fact, both the US and Russian space programs used pencils back in the 1960s, but pencils are bad news in space capsules. The points break, and sharpening (or even just writing) releases significant amounts of graphite and wood dust. The Russians switched to grease pencils, but the results were less than perfect. Meanwhile, a company (well, a guy, really) called Fisher independently developed a new kind of pen that would write consistently under all sorts of harsh conditions (using exactly zero government dollars, by the way). He approached NASA about using the pen on space missions, they agreed, and the Space Pen was born. Oh, and guess who else immediately ordered a case for use on all future space missions? That's right... the Russians.

**jac1961** · 09-21-2012, 05:03 AM

Maybe everyone already knows this, but you can get wet/dry sandpaper up to like 4000 grit from auto supply and some woodworking/finishing suppliers. The high grits work well for a "high polish" when you don't really want to remove a lot of material. I use it for sharpening woodworking tools like chisels & plane blades and can get a mirror finish...

if you want anything like that.