Switched to a knotted wire wheel cup brush on my angle grinder and wow

I was cleaning rust off a big steel beam last month and my regular flap disc was taking forever. A guy on the site told me to try a knotted wire wheel cup brush instead. Ran it at 6,000 RPM and it stripped the rust down to bare metal in like 10 minutes flat. Only catch is it throws wires everywhere so you need a full face shield and heavy gloves. Has anyone else had good luck with these for heavy prep work?

2 comments

2 Comments

patking1mo ago

Got a knotted wheel cup brush myself about a month back and man it changed everything... I was fighting rust on this old tractor frame with a wire hand brush for hours and getting nowhere. Slapped that cup on my grinder at full speed and it ate through the rust like it was nothing. The kicker is yeah those flying wires are no joke I had one bounce off my cheek and leave a little scratch even through my face shield. Still though for the time it saves I'll take the mess any day. Just gotta keep the speed up and let the brush do the work don't lean into it like a sanding disc or you'll burn the bristles off.

iris_jones891mo ago

Used to think wire brushes were all the same tbh, just a matter of how much elbow grease you put in. But after hearing this I grabbed one for a rusty gate project and yeah, night and day difference from a hand brush. Those flying wires are sketchy but the time saved makes it totally worth it.