The authoritative public forum
  for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Lusterless in aluminumville!

2004

To Whomever it concerns (or can come up with an answer),

I am extremely "green" in the construction business and have been put in charge of multiple tasks to include polishing "umpteen billion" aluminum hand rails on a local navy base and have had nothing work in all my experimentation! I first tried Eagle one aluminum mag/wheel cleaner.....failed, then I tried Nevr-Dull ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] ...worked better...failed, then I tried using a super fine #0000 steel wool ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] ....failed, last I tried using a wet/dry sandpaper designed for refinishing surfaces on vehicles. I am in deep trouble with my boss for removing the finish on this particular handrail and am looking for something/anything that will clean the rest of the handrails.

Troy Scholz
construction company - Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S.A

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2004

Hi,

I didn't re-check the letters to see how exactly applicable they are, but according to my own notes, letters 26857 and 8632 may be able to help you out.

Good luck.

--Also, there are lots of letters on how to clean and polish aluminum wheels, you may want to use the search engine to track some down.

Remember though, if the handrails are anodized, any techniques that you use that remove that anodize will leave the parts open to corrosion, so be forewarned.

Jim Gorsich
Compton, California, USA

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Are these hand rails extruded aluminum? Are they inside or outside? I would guess that, being on a military base, they are extruded tube that was exposed to liquid nitrogen during the extrusion process putting a very shiny surface on it. If you've touched them with an abrasive, it looks like your about to get court marshalled. Did your boss give you a procedure for polishing these before putting you in harms way? It sounds to me like he set you up to fail. These are the experiences that turn greenhorns into cowboys, so don't take it to hard. Try a buffer, get the kind painters use. I doubt you can make a difference to the surface without using a mechanical device, and paint polish (if you haven't tried it already). There are a lot of different polishes and buffing compounds, so read the labels and use the one best suited for what you are doing. Don't touch it with anything abrasive! Good luck.

Sheldon Taylor
supply chain electronics
Wake Forest, North Carolina
2005

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Ed. note: Our supporting advertiser Everbrite [a finishing.com supporting advertiser] offers a coating/sealant designed to restore luster to faded aluminum. They say (paraphrasing) that if the metal looks good when clean and wet, that's what it will look like after application of their product.

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"Elbow Grease" turned out to be the key factor in refinishing the aluminum handrails I had to polish. These are old handrails that are set outside near a saltwater body of water and have never been maintained. I first stripped them down using a wire wheel for bulk corrosion, then used 00 steel wool ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] to smooth out the scratches, then used wet or dry sandpaper (320 grit, then 400 grit) to make it shine, then buffed the living tar out of it with never dull and a wool buffer pad....shiny as a new quarter and protected from touch.

Troy Scholz
- Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S.A.
2005

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Thanks for telling "the rest of the story" Troy, I don't know about anyone else, but I like to hear how people resolve their issues. Sometimes it doesn't seem like anybody wants to send a note back to the site saying whether or not any of the advise they received helped or not. I'm glad everything worked out.

Sheldon Taylor
supply chain electronics
Wake Forest, North Carolina
2005