I just purchased a six inch long rail-road spike for an illusion I'm preparing.

However, only one of the sides is finished and polished.

I plan on turning that side towards the audience, but in the long term is there a way to polish and shine the other sides to the same finish?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

What is it made of? I have never seen a railroad spike with any kind of finish except rust. If it is a novelty item it might not be made of the same iron/steel of a regulation spike.

If it is iron or steel you can polish it up with a wire wheel, depending on the pitting of the surface you might need to use a flexible disc grinder. If you know a welder, take it to him, he already has the tools.

Once you have it cleaned up you can plate it with nickle or chrome to keep from rusting.

You should be able to find a new railroad spike with no rust fairly easily. If you have a railroad division office near you, just give them a call and ask for the maintenance department. They will probably be willing to give you several. It's really not worth all the buffing.

Yes, you can use wire brush to take off most heavy stuff then you need buffing wheels and polish, there are many types of metal polish out there for everything from gold and silver to stainless steel. But you will find that you will probably have to repolish often. Spraying with a clear laquer will help keep the finish for a while, but ultimately handling will start to dull finish and corrosion and rust will set back in if it is not polished again regularly. If the nail already has a coating like zinc on it, polishing will remove that. You can get nail polished well and see a local plater and see if they can chrome or nickle plate it for you which should give you a long lasting nice finish.

http://www.cymba.com/s001.jpg

Here's what I have.

It's not inscribed, nor has it been milled for the opener.

However, the manufacturer orders them already polished on the side to be inscribed.

I'm looking for a way to make all sides match.

It looks like you wll be spending a good deal of time with a belt sander. That would be the way I would approach the problem. Once cleaned up I would plate it using one of the kits from caswellplatng.com. I gold plated my Okito boxes using one of the plug in brushes. Looks great and no more tarnish.

Have fun with the polishing equipment! if you don't have a hand held grinder Im sure someone will lend you one that's the way to go. Don't try it by hand. then send it to a plater they will do it for youat realy reasonable rate. (our platers here generaly will do small stuff likthis for me gratis as they will throw it in a batch of chopper parts if I'm willing to perform at one of their cookouts.