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I heard the other day that if you sandblast aluminum with baking soda it gives it a real shiny crome look.Has anyone ever tried this before and does it work?

It cleans it very well and makes it look almost new.

Soda stripping/blasting has been used for stripping paint on cars and, it is my understanding, it can be used on other soft materials (you will use a lot of it too). With aluminum (AL), it might be OK but I think you will want to clean any soda residue off completely and quickly.

As with any polishing of AL, you will need to have a protective coating of some sort put on the AL to keep it from oxidizing again. There are several companies that advertise coatings besides using clear lacquers.

Soda Blasting a Fiberglass Boat Hull......The Soda is Bio degradable! However the copurus oxide bottom paint is not......Does a great job on cleaning without damaging the fiberglass......Some units are mobile and they will come to you to do blasting.....Check it out! It can be done with out the water also.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lObe2Vgu ... ed&search=
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blasting with soda will dull aluminum to a grey satin finish.

immersion in a bath of caustic soda ( powdered drain cleaner) will remove the anodization and leave it with a peach looking film. this coating wipes off, do the job with hot water then rinse cold after tanking it. it will leave it bare aluminum. dont leave it, it will eat it up. only enough time to strip the coating off. do this outside with lots of fresh air!!! you can sand out scratches wetsanding from as hardcore as 180g. down to 2000 grit. any smaller of grit will dull the metal . hit it with Nevr-Dull wadding then your favorite polish.. zoopseal or magic mix will seal it up best. if needed, clearcoat it after its polished out. your parts will look like chrome!!

if its not pitted or scratched, dont sand it down, just tank it. you will be amazed with the results!!

lengthy and pic-laden topic here - http://www.layitlow.com/forums/index.ph ... try5032415