Remember many aluminium castings were in either an "as cast" finish or had
some form of conversion coating (pphosphate, chromate or the like). Hence
make sure you only polish that that was polished ex factory. A glow can be
given to the surface of cast metal by appropriate use of metal brightner.
I can not give you the product at present as I am not at my desk but I
personnally do not advocate excessive use of brightners.
Remember to never use steeel woo, copper wool, silicone carbide, or any
thing that can cause by metalic corrosion on light metals. To be safe
aliminium oxide is best as an abrasive.
That said impregnated cotton wadding is best for fiddley bits or make some
your self with a cloth and some abrasive paste.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David Hallam
Senior Conservator of Objects
John Treloar Centre for Conservation Science
Australian War Memorial
PO Box 345 Canberra City ACT 2601 Australia
ph -61 6 243 4534(w)
fax -61 6 241 7998
David.Hallam@awm.gov.au hallam@rschp1.anu.edu.au _/~~\_|\
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Conservation of Functional Objects and Modern Materials ( !
Without Treatment Development our past can only rot! \_,-~~~\_*<-This
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Standard Disclaimer; These are my views and may not be my organisations!
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