Ideas for polishing/finishing aluminum tube

[sailor55330]

Hey guys-

I'm making a set of windchimes for a wedding present and am using 2" alumiumn tubing. I found a great website that gives you every piece of detail you could ever ask for if you decide to make windchimes.

The top and striker will be 3/4" spalted maple with a spalted maple sail that I resawed to 1/4" thick. Wife wants it stained cinnamon red with a high gloss finish on the wood. That part I've got.

Has anyone ever had any luck with polishing aluminum--especially tubing? I know it's failry decent at staying shiny, but since I'm buying the stock and cutting to length, I'm sure it will need a little TLC. So far, I'm thinking some aluminium mag wheel type polish and some elbow grease.

I thought about trying to do a brushed alum look, but not sure that's what the "designer" will want. Just trying to figure out options. Plenty on the web about flat aluminum, but not so much for tubing unless you have a dedicated polishing machine.

I think it's going to look good when done......BTW, building large windchimes=$$$$$$$$

Thank you in advance.

[capncarl]

There is always a couple of vendors at the auto shows/swap meets I frequent that sell a polish that makes alu shine like a mirror. They usually have polished antique outboard motors on display. I've seen a great wind chime they had made from alu baseball bats. This would do what you want, if you can polish a alu. bat you can polish anything! Some Google is in order here. I'll see if I can find it in my info.
capncarl

[gerti]

If you happen to have a lathe, a buffing system like this

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/LBUFFSYS.html

may work. Though the metal will make the wheels quite dirty, so they may not be suited for wood afterwards anymore. Never (intentionally) tried it on metal though, YMMV.

[cwsmith]

I am a great fan of 'Brasso' for an absolutely great polishing. Depending on what your tubes look like, a bit of time on the buffing wheel (if you have one); OR just some time with some steel wool works great for an initial cleaning.

Then take a rag, and some Brasso and you'll put a high finish on it!

I've still got a can of Brasso, left from the 60's when I was at Griffiss AFB for the summer. (A little goes a long way.) I use it for brass, silver, aluminum, and even plastic.

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The last time I took notice, Brasso was still available at Walmart, but I don't remember the price. My old 8 oz can still has the price sticker on it which reads $3.07, but I'm sure the price is somewhat higher after 50 years

CWS