Tomahawk kid
BoTM Winner
After seeing all the post about polishing frames, I thought I'd give it a go too. After years of abuse my beloved Zaskar was looking very dull & tattered, what with her frame dings,scratches & chain suck. I got some frame decals quite a while ago which have just been sat there, didn't manage to get a complete set though, missing "T6 6061" seat tube decal & the "handmade in the USA" decal for the chain stay, they seem unobtainable, if anyone has any........
I got some wet n dry, grades 800 to 3000 & got started. I worked all the way through the various grits. It took about 5 hours to complete the process, a very dirty Job & to be honest, a b*llache.
Next phase was the actual polishing. To do this I read that people had used "scotch pads",so I purchased some from ebay & a couple of days later they arrived, I attached them to my drill, put some brasso type stuff I had lying around on them & off I went.
After about 2 hours of repeating this process I realised this wasn't the finish I was looking for, although the frame was obviously polished it was dull looking & not the high sheen, mirror finish I was expecting. To tell the truth I don't rate the 'scotch pads' for polishing, each to their own I suppose.
I shot off to Toolstation & got a cheap polishing kit, 3 sizes of sewn cotton mops & two bars of 'polish' 1 green & 1 red/brown.This faired no better & after a further hour using the bar polish & the 'Brasso' I started to get a bit despondent thinking that I'd ruined my beloved Zaskar.
I left the frame for a few days & whilst out driving I got the bright Idea to get some Autosol !!!!The mops on the drill with the autosol did the job!! Wow, what a difference, out came that elusive shine!! With the required mirror finish acquired it was time to put the decals on.
I did take some photos's of the whole process, my camera decided that it wouldn't operate until I formatted the flash card, thus losing all images.I did manage to capture some post polishing, decal application action though.
I'll post pics later.Sorry for the low res images ...Having probs uploading.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
I got some wet n dry, grades 800 to 3000 & got started. I worked all the way through the various grits. It took about 5 hours to complete the process, a very dirty Job & to be honest, a b*llache.
Next phase was the actual polishing. To do this I read that people had used "scotch pads",so I purchased some from ebay & a couple of days later they arrived, I attached them to my drill, put some brasso type stuff I had lying around on them & off I went.
After about 2 hours of repeating this process I realised this wasn't the finish I was looking for, although the frame was obviously polished it was dull looking & not the high sheen, mirror finish I was expecting. To tell the truth I don't rate the 'scotch pads' for polishing, each to their own I suppose.
I shot off to Toolstation & got a cheap polishing kit, 3 sizes of sewn cotton mops & two bars of 'polish' 1 green & 1 red/brown.This faired no better & after a further hour using the bar polish & the 'Brasso' I started to get a bit despondent thinking that I'd ruined my beloved Zaskar.
I left the frame for a few days & whilst out driving I got the bright Idea to get some Autosol !!!!The mops on the drill with the autosol did the job!! Wow, what a difference, out came that elusive shine!! With the required mirror finish acquired it was time to put the decals on.
I did take some photos's of the whole process, my camera decided that it wouldn't operate until I formatted the flash card, thus losing all images.I did manage to capture some post polishing, decal application action though.
I'll post pics later.Sorry for the low res images ...Having probs uploading.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
