Well, I just arrived home and guess who must have stopped by? My neighbor said he tossed the red outfit and sled and now drives and dresses "Brown". See if you can find what Santa brought in the picture.
Hint = I got 2...
Gracie thought they were her scuba tanks! Now that I have the new tanks, how about suggestions on how to shine them up? They have a few rough spots towards the bottom. Would you start with a wet sand job to smooth them out and then start the polish routine?
It took me just two hours each. Finishing sander, sweatshirt material, Mother's mag wheel polish. No pre-sanding, nothing. Straight into the polish. There may have been an easier way, but I'm not aware of it. I wonder if either a 3m 0000 abrasive pad or a Mr. Clean Magic sponge would have sped it up a little?
built a stand today out of some scrap wood in the shop. Then spent 20 minutes with wet and dry (wet) 220 grit sandpaper. I just did the bottom of one tank to knok off the splatter from the welding. It is starting to look good.
built a stand today out of some scrap wood in the shop. Then spent 20 minutes with wet and dry (wet) 220 grit sandpaper. I just did the bottom of one tank to knok off the splatter from the welding. It is starting to look good.
I realize this is 2 years later, but in case others find this post while searching for advice on polishing Worthingtons - thanks for a great idea here, Richard.
You inspired me to build my own cradle out of 2x4 scraps in my garage as well. Here are the results - minus the beach towels I used as pads on each end. I built it from about 6 feet of 2x4's, 16 drywall screws and a miter saw to get good angle cuts for the top pieces. Took all of 15 minutes from beginning to end.
I found hand sanding to be a major pain, and after many hours got only mediocre results at best. That was 220, then 300, 400 and 600, and finally Nevr-Dull wadding polish.
Next I fired up the Cyclo and dabbed a few fingerprints of F7 Nuvite on the tank. I ended up with the results below in about an hour. I can't be sure the sandpaper didn't help prep the surface, but I'll figure that out tomorrow when I try to do the other tank using only the Cyclo/Nuvite.
Interesting, Brad. What was the outcome on the 2nd tank?
Tanks.:>)
Well, for better or worse - all that hand sanding did make things look really easy for the Cyclo, when it fact the Cyclo was just finishing up the job. The second tank came out just as good, but required a lot more time with the Cyclo.
Overall, I'd skip the hand sanding and go for the Cyclo, except in the places where it can't reach. For that, I used 400, 600 and 800 sandpaper by hand, followed up by Nevr-Dull wadding polish. Worked very well.
2. If you put a little poly on your tank stand and put it in a box with a couple pieces of sand paper, I'll bet you could sell it on e-Bay as an Airstream Tank Polishing Kit.
Great job, and one of these days, maybe the day after this Christmas, I can put your experience to good use.
2. If you put a little poly on your tank stand and put it in a box with a couple pieces of sand paper, I'll bet you could sell it on e-Bay as an Airstream Tank Polishing Kit.
Great job, and one of these days, maybe the day after this Christmas, I can put your experience to good use.
Thanks for sharing,
Roy
Fair enough!
I still need to finish up the handle on the second tank, and lots more polishing to do in general... but here's proof I did tackle the second one.
And great idea on selling my pile of 2x4's, er, tank cradle. "Tank Polishing Kit" does have a nice ring to it!
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