Hello my friends,
I have this wind chime that I would like to refurbish. The chimes have this faint coating of white-ish stuff, and I’m not sure what to do about that. Is this scale (?) something I could remove safely? Or should I just leave it be?
Appreciate any help, as I’ve not worked much with metal beyond a basic welding class, so I’m sort of learning from scratch here.
I’m assuming the material is Al oxide. You can clean it with steel wool. There might be some pitting underneath. Once that is complete. You can use some buffing rouge and polish it with the polishing wheel in the machine shop
Is the cleaning with the steel wool something that should be done only just in advance of buffing? Or can there be some time between the two steps?
I would steel wool first and then proceed to buffing.
Best guess here: I’m assuming the scale developed slowly over a long time; if so, then some time between the steps wouldn’t be an issue.
Yup. Definitely over a long time. Thanks for that clarification
White-ish powdery corrosion is on magnesium or aluminum-magnesium alloys. Aluminum oxide is clear and hard like diamonds.
Use scotchbrite pads and white vinegar to clean. What ever you do don’t use steel wool, that will cause Dissimilar Metal corrosion.
I would go with Joe’s suggestion to buff them after cleaning. Once you are done polishing, give them a few coats of clear Rust-Oleum
Thanks Wolf should have suggested scotchbrite
