Polishing unanodized aluminum to a mirror finish doesn't require a lot of sanding steps. You can quickly sand out any pitting or scratches with 220 grit dry then go straight to the buffing wheel. Start with bobbing compound on a cotton wheel and follow that with Fabuluster. Use two different wheels, the polishing compounds are available through any large jewelry supply house. You can get a less bright but shinier than satin finish by stopping after the bobbing step. I always cringe when I read people describing how they went through multiple hand sanding steps over hours to get what is probably not as good a polish as I can get in a few minutes. Careful with the buffing wheel though, it's dangerous.
Kurt Sperry Bellingham, Washington USA
2009/11/13 Norm and Val Lafleur <nvlafleur@verizon.net>:
> The current thread on restoration got me thinking about restoration of alloy parts. I enjoy salvaging scratched up seat posts, oxidized brake calipers, stems , hubs etc. For the most part I leave anodized parts alone. For non anodized parts I wet sand with grits up to 2500 and buff with Tripoli compound and white rouge. What I'm wondering is there any equivalency scale to correlate the various abrasive media. Is Tripoli finer than 2500 grit paper, where do the steel wool grades "0", "00" etc fit in.
>
> It would be helpful to know the equivalency in order to know when to stop the tedious sanding and move on to the easier to apply buffing compounds. Does such a correlation scale exist? For those of you who also polish parts what have you learned? What do you use for a mirror finish? For a satin finish? Opinions welcome.
>
>
> Norm Lafleur
> Ashfield, Massachusetts
> USA