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Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ

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Aluminum finishing

Q. I have heard that if you use a wire brush on an angle grinder ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] , you can polish aluminum so that it looks like chrome. Is this true, is there a simple way of doing this? Anyone know if it can be done? Any help is appreciated.

Thank You,

Dave
- Pl. Grove, Utah
2003

No way. What you will get is a brushed aluminum finish that will generate thousands of tiny red rust spots over time.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
2003

It is possible to polish and buff aluminum to a very bright finish (although not really the equal of chrome plating to a trained eye), and much 'whiter' (like silver) than chrome plating. But it's not a matter of wire bushing, it's laborious application of ever finer abrasives. Patient application of the search engine will lead to many highly informative responses like letters 800, 1831, and 10917 . Good luck.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2006

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