Offshoreonly.com - Tech Tip..... Polishing Aluminum

I best stuff I have ever used was the Extreme Aluminum Polish that was the Pink Cotton wadding. But I heard they went out of business and I cant find it anymore .Now I use the Luster lace thats yellow Its about the same thing.

Here is a post I found on another site on How to make the polish and figured I would pass it along to you guys :D

Rob :drink:

first polish list: (ingredients)

1 bar (large) of <font color=green>green</font color=green> jewelers rouge.
1 gallon low odor mineral spirits (walmart has it for $1.99)
1 one liter pop bottle with lid (large opening the best)
1 bottle of liquid carnuba wax.

(tools)
a couple pieces of news paper
sharp pocket knife
maybe a funnel

(directions)
(1) take the bar of jewelers rouge and your pocket knife and shave about a third of it to powder with your knife onto the spread out news paper. (the jewelers rouge should have been about 8" long to start with) The finer you get it (the shavings) the better. when you get a pretty good pile put that inside of the pop bottle so the bottle is about 1/3 the way full with the powder.

(2) next take the liquid carnuba wax and put about an inch of it in the pop bottle. This preserves the shine.

(3) next fill the bottle to where it starts to neck down with the low odor mineral spirits. Shake the mix good and set it by a heater or out in the sun for a couple of hours. when it get warm shake it good. It should be a liquidly paste by now.

APPLICATION

always use a terry cloth rag to put the polish on and do not get it wet (with water). Rub the polish in circles on the item like you would any other polish till it turns black. Let it dry all the way, usually doesn't take too long. Next remove the polish using a soft cotton rag, nothing else..... it will shine, but if you want it done right do it over again. You need to polish until there is not any more black stuff coming off.

GOOD TRICK

when you are satisfied you have all of the black stuff removed and no more will come off wipe the item down with a soft cotton cloth. Next get some flower and sprinkle the flower onto the aluminum. Get a clean cotton cloth and buff it out real good. The flower will clean any remaining polish and tarnish out of the pors and any scratches that may be in the project.

Jewelers rouge comes in three different grits:

red is course
green is medium
white is fine

I have a batch of the white polish that I made up just like the green. That works good for fine finishing like on my Harley aluminum and stainless steel. The green is good all around for aluminum, brass, bronze, etc. The carnuba wax that is in it helps preserve the shine for quite some time. You may want to touch it up every once in a while by using a light coat of the polish every now and then.

The white will put the best shine on items. You can use it after the green to make it like a mirror.

The jewelers rouge is available at most truck stops. It comes in a bar about 8 inches long and is fairly cheap.

Give this a try and you will not be dissatisfied, believe me, this stuff is awesome.

The other polishes with impregnated cotton (quator, never dull) are basically cotton, lighter fluid, and a low concentrate of white jewelers rouge. There is not any wax to preserve the shine and when wet is highly flammable.

This polish does not take long to make and a bottle will last a long time. When I drove a truck I used to make it up and take about a dozen bottles with me and sell it for $15.00 a bottle to drivers. They loved the stuff. One bottle lasted me for about 8 months or so and I had aluminum wheels on my tractor and trailer, full aluminum fenders above the drive tires, 2 160 gallon aluminum fuel tanks, aluminum air tanks and some other goodies and it was always like a mirror.