If the Pexto stakes have been really abused, that is, dinged and dented severely, you're going to have alot of work to do to refinish them. You either have to grind below the dings or fill them with weld and then grind. Either way is a lot of work and will still need subsequent sanding and polishing.

If the stakes are just rusty and lightly hammer-marked, your best bet is to use a belt sander with an 80 grit belt to dress them back smooth, then use a finer grit belt to polish them to a nice finish. After that, if you're really berserk about having shiny stakes like I am, you polish them on a buffer using emery compound followed by "white diamond" for a mirror polish. I use my stakes for precious metals at times, and I like them to be morror polished.

The stake above was made from two 1 1/2 inch bolts picked up on a rail road track. You can see the rust and pitting on the the bolt used for the base. For the bolt used for the top, I used a belt grinder and angle grinder with a grinding wheel to get most of the material removed down to a smooth surface. I then used a flap wheel on my angle grinder to give it a smooth shiney surface.

Walker