cleaning aluminum handle shafts mitchell

chrisham61 · Post by **chrisham61** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:14 pm

what works best on these aluminum handles. just about everything i have tried causes a dark discoloration

Post by **john elder** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:22 pm

Chris: At risk of raising someone's wrath, I would use 4-0 (that's 0000) steel wool on unfinished aluminum. If you lubricate it with water, Simichrome or even light oil, you can tone it down even more and quit when you're happy with the results.

werpmolens · Post by **werpmolens** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:27 pm

Hello,

I use polishing paste, bought it in a Jewelry shop, gives a fine result.
I have two gradations.
I use a Prof. polishing machine, you can do a handle in 5 min.

Jan

Can provide more info if you want.

Menzerna is the brand.

chrisham61 · Post by **chrisham61** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 4:47 pm

what is a professinal polishing machine?

werpmolens · Post by **werpmolens** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 4:33 am

Hi,

I have something like this, no grinder, just two soft rolls on both sides.
Works with pasta and will make a handle bright in 5 min, removes tiny scratches also.

Different rolls, hard for polish, and soft for the finishing touch.

Jan

http://orcaonline.org/images/pixel.gif ... 1|294%3A50

MrStandfast · Post by **MrStandfast** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:12 am

I have one of those in my white elephant collection, but although it is the counsel of perfection, it's an expensive piece of equipment for the occasional user. You can do just we well with an ordinary electric drill, meant to be hand-held, although the simple bench mount most makers supply should be cheap, and will earn its keep on other projects. You can get the polishes and cloth mops from Ace Hardware if you are in the US, or Kuwait City where I got mine.

A mop with a small hole will fit on a sort of coarse screw mandrel, called a pigtail. There can be two things wrong with a polishing substance, hardness and grain size, and just about any metal polish, jeweller's rouge etc. is harder than aluminium. Excessively coarse-grained polishes such as emery powder, although they might have a place in polishing out scratches, are what will give the metal a lustreless, leaden appearance.

John Elder is right to mention unfinished aluminium. For if it is anodised it has a hard oxide coating, and if you polish through this on the edges etc., you can produce an uneven surface. Unstained anodising can be hard to detect, but if you scratch with a pin on an area which will be hidden, you should feel it harder than unprotected aluminium.

cleaning aluminum handle shafts mitchell

cleaning aluminum handle shafts mitchell

mitchell handle polishing