how do you guys get your forks so shiny?

[jonwright]

so i have seen a bunch of guys on here showing pictures of their old forks that look a lot like mine, then saying they "polished them" and then they look freaking amazing. i am not realy sure where to start as far as making them pretty again. i did a search or two but not finding any methods, if its already been posted i would love to see the post. thanks

 

[hurley209]

320 grit wet sand, then 400 grit, then 1500.... and then some polishing compound

 

[vtwin650]

I wet sand them with 320 grit and then 600 grit
Then I use my polishing wheel (Modified grinder from harbor freight)
with rouge

I need to create a quick tutorial video when I get a chance - It is a lot of manual labor, but so worth it in the end.

Only problem, is it creates yet another addiction - I want to "Polish" every bit of metal I come across.

 

[RoadRash]

Ancient chinese secret!

 

[jonwright]

good stuff, thanks guys, im working on it right now.

 

[Koestum]

I knock any crusty stuff first with a brass wire wheel in my hand drill.

 

[JRK5892]

i did a how to in the tips section bud... when i did my TX500

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

I start with bead blasting to remove surface corrosion and lacquer or other clear coat that might be on there. You can use a wire wheel, too. I follow that with 1" wide 220 grit emery cloth. That levels surface defects. From there I will wet sand 320, 400, 600, 800, 1200 grit. Don't skip a grit step. It will not make the job go faster to skip over grits, it will make it go slower. Continue with whatever grit you are using until ALL scratches from the previous grit are gone. Going to the next finer grit too soon will cause the job to go slower.

Follow the wet sanding with a buffing wheel and emery stick. You need a high speed buffer for it to be effective, and there has to be enough power to generate some heat in the piece. Some heat is required to melt the emory stick.

If you really want that final show polish finish, change the buffing wheel and use red rouge.

Here is a before and after picture of an engine case I polished.

 

[Stalin321]

^ holy baby jesus.....i thought i had done enough but its not even close to that. Great Job man, that looks awesome!

 

[jonwright]

Wow that's insane! That looks incredible. I will see what I can do. I really need to get a bench grinder/polisher

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

I don't care much for the combination grinder/polisher. but it's not a bad compromise if you need both. This one is 3/4 HP and not a bad choice.
http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-bench-grinder-buffer-94327.html

The one I have is half as much money. It is a polisher only and only 1/2 HP.
http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-buffer-94393.html

I wish that I had bought the more powerful 8" buffer. I am constantly stalling the 6" 1/2 HP model.
http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-buffer-40668.html

Key to buffing is high speed. The motor must be at least 3,400 RPM.

 

[BriMed1983]

DUDE! Nice mirror finish. I bet that engine cover did not look that good rolling off the assembly line back in the day. Very nice job...Now I have the urge to go polish something!

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

<<the urge to go polish something!>>

It's a powerful addiction!

 

[Sonreir]

I did this one using the same grits and method described by Alpha, but I used a wire wheel to strip instead of bead blasting. I also took two passes on the buffer. The first pass was with black emery compound and the second was with brown tripoli. The whole sanding and buffing process took me about three hours. Now that I've had some practice I could probably get it down to one and half hours or so.

First pic after the wire wheel:

Part way through the 220 grit:

Done with all the wet sanding, ready for the buffing:

Buffed!

For an even better finish, follow up with red jeweler's rouge and then again with a chemical polish and microfiber cloth. You can get a true mirror finish like I did with this aluminum heat sink:

 

[jonwright]

This is awesome stuff guys, thanks for all the walkthroughs!

 

[JRK5892]

not sure if it has been brought up... but we powder coat over polished parts on a daily basis... we stock a specially formulated powder that will not dull down the shine and keep you from having to worry about upkeep on polished parts

we do this on wheels that we polish and 2 tone all the time! keeps you from having to deal with BS... so after your done polishing if you want it done hit me up... (do not use WD40 as a lube) i know alot of people use this to lube their buffing wheels, and it does work great! however if you want them coated afterwards the wd will create havoc on the part before it is coated just a tip

 

[JRK5892]

also if you do not have access to bead blaster, i sugest a soft brass wire wheel... actually that is what we use here in the shop, it is a bit less agressive and leaves you a solid surface to begin your polishing roughes or sanding

 

[jonwright]

What do you guys recommend on spoke wheels? Best way to clean those up?

 

[JRK5892]

depends on the finish they ahve... sounds nuts but SHOUT like you use to get out stains, works awesome to clean up dirty spokes... if it is a chrome finish, i would do chrome polish like never dull... if they are rusted steel spokes... no joke wire wheel (or blast) and paint/powder or cut em and relace polished stainless in there

 

[Sonreir]

I've cleaned up a few sets of spokes (both my own and others').

I start off with a stiff steel wire wheel followed by a fine wire wheel and follow it up with the buffing wheel using black emery and then brown tripoli. Wipe down with denatured alcohol and a microfiber cloth and you're good to go.

My own spokes from my 360. After on the left, before on the right:

Same spokes, before and afters with the wheel (I used the same process on the rim):

You can also check out jrknecht's CB450 build here:
http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=22292.80

I did the spokes for his build.