Where the
world gathers for metal finishing
Q&As since 1989


-----

Antioxidant for Aluminum

2005

I am restoring a 1962 Jaguar E-Type. The carbs are aluminum with different finish. The many years have worked its wonders on the aluminum finish. Bringing it back to original I face a challenging task of three finishes;
1) shining aluminum - relatively easy to obtain with various polish and hard work.
2) glass blasted aluminum - easy to bring back to original by glass blasting.
3) smooth surfaces that are oxidized and dark but never intended to be shining and polished - this surface is really challenging. I have tried blasting it with plastic granulate (used for aluminum polish on F16 fighter planes) - but it does not remove the darkness and all of the oxidation. Can you point me to a process/chemical that can help me?

Karsten Frilev
hobbyist - Aalborg, Denmark

You can try with 10-40 gm sodium carbonate / washing soda [affil links]/5-10 gm 'water glass' [on eBay or Amazon] /1 lit water solution. Good luck!

Goran Budija
- Cerovski vrh Croatia
2005