Until we bought a wire mesh sink net, we lost many utensils to the evil, feared garbage disposal. Since I was already improving the silver, I thought I’d try to smooth out the nasty grooves in the 3 stainless steel spoons (and one Babcia spoon) that have been unusable. What did I have to lose? An already unusable spoon?

I love my Dremel. I have used it in so many inappropriate ways: cutting lumber, metal tubing, drywall, sanding large surfaces, etc. I don’t use it for the small craft projects; I like to use it for heavy duty, large projects. I’m surprised it still works with the way I have abused it.

I started with the orange Aluminum Oxide grinder (even though it has been somewhat ruined by a previously unidentified use). It took out the big, sharp dents that would have cut lips and tongues. It reallllly grinds and you could lose a lot of material to this grinder if you didn’t pay too attention.

I moved on to the Emery Impregnated Disc — this one is awesome. It made nice, smooth, flat planes and then smoothed the sharp corner edge created by the flat plane. It didn’t chew up the material but it did scuff it significantly. I was sad it didn’t have multiple sizes; the 1″ disc was just a bit too big for the tiny spoons. I tried the felt polishing pads but these really didn’t do anything.

The result is incredibly ugly. The Nambe spoon came out the best but it was the least chewed up and was probably made out of the hardest, highest quality metal. Babcia’s silver spoon looks terrible but at least now it’s usable and nothing is stopping me from melting it later if I want to. No harm done really.

I think my sanding won’t really work because now the steel has no protective cover and I think they will rust immediately. Time will tell.

p.s., I forgot to mention that I also sanded the broken chopsticks that lost their tips to the Rancilio Rocky because I was too impatient to wait for the burrs to stop grinding. Doesn’t everyone need more cellulose fiber in their diets? :)