Sealing a cymbal after sanding?

Leftie117

Junior Member
Just got through sanding a bunch of my cymbals, and now I need some sort of sealer to keep the shine. Any suggestions?
 
Why would you sand them? Sounds like a bad idea. I used to use metal cleaner on mine some. I dont' t hink you can really effectively seal a symbol and prevent oxidation unless you put a clear coat on it, which would destroy the tone. I would never sand my cymbals. At worst I would use quad zero steel wool with metal cleaner if I wanted the new money look. I choose old and aged look. Mine haven't been cleaned in probably 35-40 years, my vintage ones, and I don't think I would touch them except for a wipe down.
 
I think Paiste uses some type of urethane, and Zildjian uses wax. I have used car wax on mine after I cleaned them with a cleaner that rinses off with water, and seemed to work well. They stayed clean a lot longer. If I used a cleaner that buffed off, like Brazo I wouldn't put anything on afterwards. The buff off cleaners leave a protective coating, so to speak, and they don't tarnish as quick.
 
I still stuck on the sanding part. Why is this done again?
 
I still stuck on the sanding part. Why is this done again?

Can't speak for the OP, but I do it occasionally for two reasons.

First is to thin down a cymbal.
Without a rotational device it's really hit or miss though.
If you can rotate the cymbal, the results are usually pretty good.

Second is that I've bought some cymbals that were in such horrible shape
you probably wouldn't believe it.
They looked like a dog threw up on them and then it was baked in an oven.
No amount of cleaner would work on them. The only way to remove it is to
get down to the raw metal.
Again, rotation helps.

This thread is useless without pics though.
 
Just got through sanding a bunch of my cymbals, and now I need some sort of sealer to keep the shine. Any suggestions?

1. I'm assuming that you sanded them to clean them? Like everybody else, I'm curious as to why and how you did it. Did you just take sandpaper 'round and 'round? There's nothing wrong with what you did, we're just curious.

2. What kind of cymbals are they? B8s? B20s? If you can just give the brand and model of the cymbal, the advice you receive will be much more appropriate.

3. If you have B20 cymbals with regular finish (no polishing), consider just using a common household cleaner called Bar Keeper's Friend. It's available from most supermarkets. A really nasty B20 cymbal (such as Zildjian A or K, or Sabian AA or HH) will look like new in less than five minutes with NO labor involved.

4. If you have sanded a B8 cymbal (such as Sabian B8, almost all Paiste, Zildjian ZBT, etc.), you are in a sort of never-never land. These are sprayed with a very hard catalized clearcoat finish before leaving the factory. If you've sanded off the clearcoat, the only way to protect them long-term is to replace the clearcoat. Too involved to get into here.

5. Regardless of the type of cymbal you've sanded, you can get short term protection from a regular automotive polish.

Good luck, and please post some pictures of what you did. Who knows? You may start a new trend. :) :( ???

GeeDeeEmm
 
Not that hard to do. Get a nut and bolt and washers , sandwich cymbal in between , put the threaded part of the bolt in a drill chuck , tighten , turn drill on , sand.
 
buy cymbals that are ugly to begin with and don't worry about it. Character defines age to me. That's what I say about my 40+ year old Ziljian Zilcos! call it "Patina" People will pay more for it used. haha.
 
I can't imagine the scratches going across the lathe marks.....Ouch
 
Here's a pair of hats, a crash ride, and a ride I did a while ago just to see what would result.
They were real cheap, and didn't look that bad to start with. None of them sounded good though.
The hats sounded better afterwards, the ride sounded different (not really better) and the crash ride sounded worse.

.
 
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I have to say that this is the very first time I heard of this. I imagine a very fine grade of paper was used. wildbill your results are pretty good. Shiny cymbals do look good, but I'm much too lazy to keep up with that.
 
Sanding, polishing, drilling, re-lathing, Acid/salt baths, hammering.

That's what the Sabian B8 series is all about.

There's a "Cymbal Project" guy on youtube that does a bunch of this stuff. Sometimes with good results, sometimes with horrible results.

To seal, you can use an automotive wax (TurtleWax), hydrophobic solution (RainX), or a lacquer (Behlen).
 
I've sanded multiple cymbals. Mainly when I cut a cymbal down because I bought them cracked. For best results:

Get it in a drill. Rotate is kinda fast. Use a 220 grit foam sanding block http://www.lowes.com/pd_470321-1069...currentURL=?Ntt=foam+sanding+block&facetInfo=

Works well. No gouges or grooves. It also works really well on rounding the edges are you cut them down. You just have to angle the block on the edge as it is spinning.
 

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Someone is seriously going to try this BS.

You will get what you deserve when you do.

John! I'm surprised in you. Where's you spirit of adventure? Going where no man has gone before? Going west? (Just ribbing you, JP)

We're just having fun. The most that can be lost here is a B8 cymbal and a little time. And who knows, somebody might actually stumble across a way to make a B8 cymbal sound good. It could happen. (Wait! What am I saying here??????)

I have a perfectly good B20 SAbian that I'm hammering on right now. Why? Just to see what will happen. What if I ruin it? I likely will. But I will have learned a lot and had a great time hitting things. Nothing wagered . . . .

By the way, John, I love your Rogers collection. Very nice.

GeeDeeEmm
 
Here's a pair of hats, a crash ride, and a ride I did a while ago just to see what would result.
They were real cheap, and didn't look that bad to start with. None of them sounded good though.
The hats sounded better afterwards, the ride sounded different (not really better) and the crash ride sounded worse.

.

I see now what you are up to. That's a quite good result - especially if you like glossy cymbals. Carry on.

GeeDeeEmm
 
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