Hunting Washington Forum

Equipment & Gear => Power Equipment & RV => Topic started by: Westside88 on January 24, 2021, 06:59:14 PM

Title: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
Post by: Westside88 on January 24, 2021, 06:59:14 PM: I kept my old Protech toolbox for use on my new pickup. Of course that requires cleaning it up first. It's 20 years old and was pretty oxidized, but I think it cleaned up pretty well. I used a combination of mothers, chemical guys heavy metal a mothers powerball, a couple cheap cotton buffing wheels for the cord less and a whole lotta elbow grease. Not bad for an old toolbox.
Title: Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
Post by: redi on January 24, 2021, 07:12:11 PM: Wow looks great. Nice work
Title: Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
Post by: Fastass350 on January 24, 2021, 07:21:05 PM: Looks great! I love the satisfaction of getting a good shine on aluminum, it’s not easy! Good job 👍
Title: Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
Post by: huntnphool on January 24, 2021, 08:13:00 PM: Looks good, you should try doing a boat and trailer. :chuckle:
Title: Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
Post by: Harbor_hunter on January 24, 2021, 08:14:44 PM: Looks nice!
Title: Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
Post by: Westside88 on January 24, 2021, 08:33:12 PM: Quote from: huntnphool on January 24, 2021, 08:13:00 PM
Looks good, you should try doing a boat and trailer. :chuckle:
That sounds like a multi day affair. I’m planning to pick up an orbital polisher from Griots that with the right pad would probably save time on this type of project.
Title: Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
Post by: Magnum_Willys on January 24, 2021, 11:57:08 PM: Looks great- did you have to strip a protective coating off first?
Title: Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
Post by: rasbo on January 25, 2021, 05:21:27 AM: Bought the ball and two jars for my boat. The box looks great
Title: Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
Post by: Westside88 on January 25, 2021, 06:02:04 AM: Quote from: Magnum_Willys on January 24, 2021, 11:57:08 PM
Looks great- did you have to strip a protective coating off first?
No they don’t have any coating to start with
Title: Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
Post by: Westside88 on January 25, 2021, 06:05:22 AM: Quote from: rasbo on January 25, 2021, 05:21:27 AM
Bought the ball and two jars for my boat. The box looks great
The power ball saved time for sure, but still required a lot of hand work to even things out. In the future I want to try an orbital polisher with a microfiber cutting pad. There’s a video on YouTube of a guy polishing diamond plate using the chemical guys polish. That looks like a good way to go
Title: Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
Post by: Stein on January 25, 2021, 09:57:00 AM: I did this for the diamond seat boxes on my boat last summer while we were locked off the water.

I bought a dual action polisher and a heavy wool pad, it worked about 1,000 times better than all the other things I tried.

I used this stuff, it's a two step process outlined in the videos. It took some time and multiple treatments, but for the super nasty salt corrosion it ended up working very well.

http://www.californiacustom.com/purple_metal_polish.html

The benefit is you now have a da polisher and can get different pads and chemicals and now polish and remove scratches on boat or truck paint.
Title: Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
Post by: cavemann on January 25, 2021, 10:06:25 AM: I did my Stryker years ago.. I used Shark Hide when I was done and worked really well for me. It was a pain but kept it protected very well and kept a shine.
Title: Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
Post by: Blacktail Sniper on January 25, 2021, 11:07:43 AM: That looks really nice, effort well spent.
Title: Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
Post by: huntnphool on January 25, 2021, 02:56:37 PM: Quote from: Westside88 on January 24, 2021, 08:33:12 PM
Quote from: huntnphool on January 24, 2021, 08:13:00 PM
Looks good, you should try doing a boat and trailer. :chuckle:
That sounds like a multi day affair. I’m planning to pick up an orbital polisher from Griots that with the right pad would probably save time on this type of project.

I got tired of cleaning the black residue from each diamond on the trailer and had it Line-X’d but still polish the boat and trailer once a year.
Quote from: cavemann on January 25, 2021, 10:06:25 AM
I did my Stryker years ago.. I used Shark Hide when I was done and worked really well for me. It was a pain but kept it protected very well and kept a shine.

I tried the Shark Hide once but it dulled the polished finish a bit so haven’t done it since.
Title: Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
Post by: Westside88 on February 06, 2021, 05:18:54 PM: Got the old box mounted on the new truck today. I'm glad I was able to repurpose this one, they've gotten pretty expensive.
Title: Re: Polishing aluminum is alot of work, but worth it
Post by: Fastass350 on February 08, 2021, 08:07:43 PM: 👌