How Can I Obtain A High Shine On An Alluminum Surface

[John Billings]

Ha! You wanna see a great old Shobud casting? As I was restoring the '67, sanding with way too fine grits, I started to work on the pedal rack. It had some flaws in it. FLAWS! I think they're meteorites. They ripped the teeth off one of my files! Got another rack from Coop.



I polished all the smaller parts, like the keyhead, changer, and 40 year old Grovers, but the endplates and racks went to the pro polisher. His wheel was about 16" in diameter, and 10" or more wide. And he really leaned into it.

[Clyde Mattocks]

Great job John. Those end plates look great! As Herb noted above, not all those old Sho Bud castings were consistent. Seemed like some were cast from discarded gray chewing gum with huge sand granules in them.

[John Billings]

Thanks Clyde. One has to be careful, and lucky when sanding those castings in prep for buffing. It's quite easy to expose more pinholes!

I think that the Crossovers were painted because the huge castings were just not very good. The good ones were used in the Crossover Customs,,, I think!

[Bob Mainwaring]

Hi Wayne and all the other aluminum "polishing" folks out there, I think that this has come up before in previous "polishing" questions.
For many, many years I've used nothing but Solvol Autosol which comes in a black and gold coloured tube resembling tooth paste.
It is just fantastic at getting older, even more discoloured alloy parts polished to a nice original looking shine just by hand/finger pressure.
If the alloy has taken a beating over many years,the parts could be either taken off the body and buffed, or thin pieces of alloy could be placed at the side of the castings to save the wood finish. But a person has to be careful how long the thin pieces are held there for as it would also heat up and spoil the wood finish too.
Solvol Autosol is an excellent cleaner/polisher for chrome and brass items.

All Z.B.est.
Bob Mainwaring
Vancouver Island.