Hello, I've collected a few classic, aluminum body power tools and I'm wondering if anyone knows of a good tutorial for shining them up? I've seen them cleaned up to almost mirror-like shine.

Here's pictures of three sitting on a shelf, and two more currently stashed in a drawer... And I have my eye on a few others... Ignore the Irwin blade in the Circ saw, eventually it will be replaced with a matching blade. On another side note, does anyone have ANY info on the Craftsman Sander? The model number is 315.22400.

The pain is taking them apart.
Once they are apart, each part can be ground and polished to a high mirror shine or anywhere in between.
 
There are sanding pads of about 1000 descriptions.
You can't have enough sanding equipment. Big ones little ones loose ones and tight ones you need them all.  The more the better. The hardly make much sanding equipment that has no use. 
Sand the metal until you are happy

And then buff the metal to your required finish.
  Again, there are buffing pads and tools and parts of 1001 description.   

   Doing the work becomes pretty self explanatory once you begin to actually work. What's working is working, and if its not, try another approach.
  But you have to round up tools and supplies to start.

If you were asking my advise over a way into metal finishing for a beginner?

   First start hand sanding. 
Its metal, its sandpaper. OK, now you have been introduced, go ahead and get to work.
  It will teach you itself. It'll kick your ass a little, but you have to get your ass kicked, sorry. You have to learn how metal cuts and polishes.  and..................
   
Nobody can teach you better than you can.

If you believe anybody can teach you better, please send your money to............."yes that's right, box 409 happy camp, that's box four ohhhh nine"

Buy some 5" rubber sanding pads as soon as you can. Hand sanding will always work, but you want to start cheating the minute you get the chance.
     
      The old rubber pads are --better--!!   You want thick flexible rubber. Plastic is just too hard to work with. You want real rubber. So go to the old stuff market and find them.
You want several backup pads and sanding disks of at least 3 or 4 different grits.  Paper and fiberback sanding disks and availabel everywhere once you start looking, Every old hardware or homestore or lumber yard, grocery stores often have them, every hobby shop on the planet, or even plastic warehouse stores all have the abrasive disks. The kind with glue on the back you will want but even the old bolt on kind have their use.

  Its only the good rubber pads you have trouble finding.  Never let a good one get away.
   They make buffing heads to go over them too. Sheepskin or at least imitation, sheep's wool pads.
   If you don't have an old electric hand drill around somewhere to use, just kill yourself. Why are you pestering me?

  There is a lot more stuff you'll wish you had. And if you do it much or for long you will want them bad.   
But if you at least have these, you can start in the game.  I did.
   yours Scott   
 

Thanks, scottg! Are you a motivational speaker by any chance? I'll probably start with the cheapest one and work my way up.

Scott motivates us by showing his wonderful work and by sharing how it is done.

Quote from: JessEm on August 16, 2013, 02:36:02 PM
Thanks, scottg! Are you a motivational speaker by any chance? I'll probably start with the cheapest one and work my way up.

I myself always wondered that. If you haven't been to his site check it out, his work is top notch.

your tools look pretty good already, Sanding for deep scratches, maybe just need scotchbrite & some aluminum cleaner, then polish. various options is; Mix equal parts water and cream of tartar and apply with a rag, or vinegar, mag wheel cleaner & polish, etc... avoid baking soda..

Oh yeah, one more thing
Whatever you try, do not try it in the center stage spotlight right off the bat!

Always always start where the sun don't shine, and work your way toward the limelight.
Make your worst mistakes where nobody can see.
  That way, when you get to center stage everyone thinks you are a genius.
 
And never ever point out your mistakes. We nailed the last perfect guy to a stick, so you will make mistakes.  No need to advertize.
    yours Scott
     
         
 

   

Scott didn't mention it, so I will. I am a big fan of body shop water sandpaper for polishing.  I prefer to use WD-40 instead of water because it keeps the aluminum from plugging the paper. I found that the house brand from True Value is garbage. Find 3M brand at an auto paint supply shop or on Ebay. 320 grit works well on both aluminum and stainless. If it just normal scratches from 50 years of use, start with 320 grit. Sand in one direction and keep the paper wet. This is where you need the rubber pads that Scott mentioned. If the piece is rough enough, sometimes starting with an orbital sander with 220 or 180 grit is needed, but do this sparingly as it takes a long time to sand out 180 grit scratches.
Next sanding after 320 is 400 grit, then 600 grit and, if you are very anal about it, 1200 grit. I bought one of those $29.95 Horror Freight buffers for doing wax jobs on your car. I use red rouge on it for stainless and white rouge for aluminum. I also use a cotton wheel in my lathe for small parts, but a drill motor works just as well. Sometimes you have to buff the part a little to see if you got all the scratches out from the last grade of paper. You can loosen up the buffing head with a water spritzer and a wire brush.(Very Messy) They do gloss over after a while. Anyway, that is how I do it. I am almost done taking out dings and polishing the stainless radiator shell, headlights, taillights and cowl lights for my 31 Model A. Scott's advice to start out of the limelight is good. Try polishing a Stanley 199 Box Knife first. They are very pretty when you are done and nobody but you will know if it is less than perfect.

That's what I'm talkin' bout! Thanks fellas.

Yeah, I looked at scottg's website last night. What can I say? He isn't just following a print and making tools from scratch, he's paving the way.

But I'm gonna, er, disagree with him on one thing...

Quote from: scottg on August 16, 2013, 01:25:42 PM
The pain is taking them apart.

The pain, at least for me, is putting them back together. I've taken tools apart for repairs and whatnot and I actually sorta enjoy that part. I take my time, paying attention to how things work, even stopping sometimes to wonder about the design process. It's the putting them back together part where it sometimes feels like I'm in over my head.