Can sand blasted fork tubes be used

[neilw]

Along with a basket case I bought years ago came fork tubes ,they had very minor rust pits on them and a friend did me a favor and sand blasted them, now they dont feel like they should and will probably wear the seals out in no time if they were used ,can these be smothed out by some kind of polishing I could do my self ?? These are off a panhead vintage bike .

[Panshovevo]

If you have some means of turning them, (a lathe is ideal) you could smooth them with progressively finer grades of steel wool.

[Bosheff]

Explain what you mean by "wear the seals out". The exterior can be refinished to emulate the original look....bosheff

[Cotten]

Neil!

If you polish them, they will be smaller in diameter, and loose in the slider bushings.

If they were not worn before the blasting, it would be ideal to have them hard-chrome plated oversize, and then have the slider bushings honed to accept them.

But it is probably cheapest to just buy another set of tubes.

....Cotten

[neilw]

bosheff , I was meaning the seals that are in the top of the sliders .
Now that I look at mine on another bike , I see they aren't chrome either ,just kinda polished steel . Once a little oil get on them I guess I don't have to worry about seal wear ,so why wouldn't I just use them as they are now?? My 59 has chrome covers ,and you cant see the tubes anyways? Theres probably a reason not to do this but Other than seal wear (which you questioned ) Nothing else comes to mind .. I'm probably overlooking a few things ,but thats just my norm.lol

[Panshovevo]

Depending on the roughness of the surface, you may cause accelerated wear of the seals and lower leg bushings. At least knock the peaks down with some fine steel wool or very fine wet/dry sandpaper wetted with light oil.
If you can't spin them, use lengthwise strokes, and try to do it evenly around the circumference.
Regards,
John