Shiny shiny stuff

I want to get some shine to some old bike parts. Cinelli stem cranks etc and wanted to know how to get that high shine finish have tried traditional Brasso type products but i am just not getting a nice enough finish

I want to get the bits looking something like these

http://cgi.ebay.com/Shimano-DURA-ACE-9sp-Crank-Arms-172-5-Polished-GC-NR_W0QQitemZ140116314463QQihZ004QQcategoryZ56195QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

can anyone suggest how to polish to this high standard ? what should i use ?

Jol on bikeforums put a guide up:
[ame="http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=3677840&postcount=38"]Do It Yourself (DIY)[/ame]

I hope he doesn't mind my quoting it here:

[cite]jol:[/cite]De-anodising (anodizing - for the stateside) and polishing a Cinelli quill stem
(or any other aluminium (aluminum - as before) part)
The [165] with-beer method.

Tools

Beer. (Weird one my girls dad had. MVP?)
Oven cleaner. (Sodium Hydroxide is the chemical you need I believe)
Fine grade wet'n'dry paper. (This was 1200 grit.)
Cup of water for the wet'n'dry.
Your aluminium part. (Disassembled as much as possible)
Metal polish cream. (Not pictured sorry. Mine was Autosol)
2 Cotton rags. (Old pyjamas pictured)
Old bucket or tray. (For the oven cleaner)

This stem was bought off Ebay and was a little shabby. Few knocks and scratches and
generally dull looking with it's factory anodise.

Step 1
Remove all parts/bolts and put part to be de-anodised in an old bucket/tray.
Spray on oven cleaner making sure not to get it on you or in your lungs.
A good coating helps. I don't think you can have too much. I had to turn
the stem with a stick to get at all the sides. Leave it for 10-15 minutes and have some ale.

Step 2
Rinse off all the cleaner a couple of times before you touch the part.

The part should be dull all over. If there are still spots of anodise, hit it again.

Step 3
Use the wet'n'dry to sand out any deep scratches, a general all-over rub works well at getting a
smooth surface. Avoid sanding any logos/pantographs if you care. The part should now look like this.

Step 4
Here is where the rubbing begins. You might need more beer. I did.
The method I find works best is to wrap an index finger in cotton cloth and apply a small blob of
metal polish cream to the fingertip. Rub the part like crazy all over for as long as you can bare.
Then get a clean rag (your 'dry' rag) and buff the polish off. The more times you repeat these
steps the more mirror-like the finish. I actually find it really satisfying but beer does help.

Bling
Your new shiny part.

Hope this helps. I tried using a dremel on a Campy Aero post a few weeks ago and find this method works better.
Now I just need the rest of the bike! Pics when finished.

Cheers.
JOL

I wondered if the beer was for drinking or shining

now i know..... it was used the way god intended it to be used

i was hoping to avoid step 4 the rubbing anyone suggest an automated method to replace finger in step 4

That was where I thought a dremel might come into it... but he tried that and there's no avoiding the finger rubbing bit.

Hi. Glad you used the tutorial. Please feel free to substitute the aussie piss I had with whatever beer you feel like!
I tried dremelling but the occasional 'zing-to-deep-gouge' factor put me off. Give it a go on a lazy sunday afternoon. It becomes quite addictive.

What about buffer pad attachments to your Black and Decker drill is there anything like that one can buy ? or softer attachments to the dremel ?

i might go shopping

Shit beer is what we found in Brighton. The Fortune of War only had various kinds of piss... no wheat beers at all. We were disappointed.

everyone likes rubbing their parts

err, use your left hand and pretend it's someone else

Have to defend Brighton. The Fortune of War is a glory hole for suckers, tourists and clubbers. Lot of pubs here serve the standard london rubbish pub selection (Carling, John Smiths, Fosters etc) but loads have local beers, microbrews and more exotic beers on tap.

If you come again, definitely hit the Evening Star (home pub of the mighty Darkstar Brewery) - its right by the station. Has an amazing beer selection and the local Darkstar brews are fantastic. Some of the best beer in England!! Or the Hand in Hand in Kemptown, the smallest pub in England(?!?) with its own brewery.

^^^^ totally mate. aviod the obvious tourists traps. the fortune of war sells some of the crappest piss lager i've ever tasted.

darkstar also gets a recommendation from me. the basketmakers, the bugle etc, the list is endless!

Shit, we have to go back.

I'm cycling down Saturday... going to join me for a ride to the Evening Star?

I knew the mention of beer would derail the thread. Damn.

JOL Hi. Glad you used the tutorial. Please feel free to substitute the aussie piss I had with whatever beer you feel like!

MVP lager? I'm from Melbourne.. never heard of it. Wait..
http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=46113&highlight=&sid=c4d63f62dc8051a554f0102433e8c2c4

Polishing: If you have larger parts or would trade money for time spent rubbing, there are specialist shops (often doing powdercoating or blasting, etc) that will polish items for you. I had the wheels of my car done at one. It cost perhaps $25 per wheel 3-4 years ago?

I did this last night but got the instructions wrong.

The downside is my stem looks like shit and stinks of beer, but the bonus is that I can now sing like Rod Stewart.

i did it just now ... Went to the builders yard down the road and got some caustic soda (500ml, £2.50) and a coupla sheets of 1200grit wet/dry paper (£1.80), some Brasso (£1.50). Then, being the impatient fool that i am, didn't bother to read instructions. Put some boiling water in a bucket with my stem, then poured loadsa caustic soda granules all over it. It fucking ate my stem up ...

eventually realized this wasn't quite right, and took it out. It looked like shit, so i had to do extra sanding work. Used some 600g and then used 1200g. Didn't quite get all of the scratches out, but it still looks alright. This was sort of an experiment, and now i know how to do it i was thinking about doing my rims/seatpost, what with the weather being so shit atm and me not having a life.

I polished mine for about 10mins before my arm hurt, still don't know how Jol got his to be soooo shiny.... Maybe he has a special secret formula ...

thing is, how long will it last before it oxidises?

will you have to furiously polish like a wanking monkey every week?

lol, i think so ...
then again, phil wood hubs stay shiny for years. Maybe they're chromed...

After the polish (I used autosol but any polishing compound. Maybe I should ship some back!) you can use car wax (like carnauba wax) to keep the shine a little longer. My stem is a bit scratched from use now but still looks shiny.

i think the brasso type of polish isn't as good as autosol paste

Just did this to a hub.. very happy with the result!

A few little refinements:

• used drain cleaner (no need for the aerosol)
  
• smeared the drain cleaner paste all over then wrapped in cling film. Meaning I only needed to use a couple of tablespoons of drain cleaner (almost no fumes)
  
• Started with 800 paper then moved to the 1200
  
• rubbed with fine steel wool (thanks dogsb!)
  
• finished with autosol.
  
  

Sorry, no before photo, but trust me - it was a regular anodised shimano XT hub.

Now - You can even make out me taking the photo in the shine!

I've been having fun with this polishing lark.. my new build will be shiny+

thing is, how long will it last before it oxidises?
will you have to furiously polish like a wanking monkey every week?

Apparently old Campy record hubs, shifters and seatposts are polished, unanodised alu, and they stay pretty shiny over decades. Maybe not mirror finish, but not grey muck.

in the spirit of reinvigorating threads, a few questions before I go ahead on this:

Jol (or anyone else who followed his instructions properly):

should the rinse off water be cold or hot or what?
at what point does the cup of water come in with the wet and dry?

thanks

Can't imagine the rinse water matters really, as long as you use plenty to make sure all the drain cleaner is gone.

Using water with wet&dry gets you a finer finish. So go from 800 dry -> 800 wet -> 1200 dry -> 1200 wet for instance to get the best finish.