How to Polish Aluminum

After a few days of Aluminum Polishing disasters I've found a great product-

PlastX - you can find it at Harbor Freight
http://www.harborfreight.com/plastx-clear-plastic-cleaner-and-polish-96662.html

It's made for plastic but it works beautifully on aluminum with no toxic fumes.

On my journey of trying to figure out the best product to use I learned a few things:

1) Never use an acid on aluminum - vinegar, lemon juice, etc on aluminum. It totally takes off any shines and leaves it looking chalky. Knowing this I realized that many of the things needed for plastic would be the same for sealing the aluminum and bringing up the shine.

2) Aluminum is very soft and only very gentle products can be used on it.

3) Aluminum needs some kind of protective coating.

Test it out! I think you'll be surprized at how nice it turns out. I've actually started using it in my tumbler as a charger with fine chopped walnut shell media. It works beautifully!!!

Hope this helps!
Liz :-)