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by **Sky Chief** on Sat Apr 13, 2013 7:59 pm

I know that some folks have left their Darleys unpainted and am curious how much the aluminum oxidizes over time. I was thinking of glass bead blasting one and leaving it unpainted. Parts always look like new when they come out of the blaster but I know they won't stay that way. I've never left parts bare very long before painting them so I wasn't sure how bad they would darken. I have seen where parts darken fairly quickly if you touch them after blasting.

by **rustyfoot** on Sat Apr 13, 2013 8:09 pm

Hey Jason,
I do know the answer to your question, however I have a couple of Darley's that I left natural after bead blast. I will keep check on them to see how much they darken,if any, with time. I guess you could call it the patina affect. Some aging or curing might give it a nice look?
I'll let you know. :grin:

by **LarryC39** on Sun Apr 14, 2013 12:08 pm

Glass bead would be too harsh for a Darley. I'd suggest soda or walnut shell, then a clearcoat of paint if you want it to stay shiny.

by **vaughn** on Sun Apr 14, 2013 1:23 pm

I wouldn't think aluminum would "patina" but we'll see. I know brass doesn't stay shiny after you polish it without a coat of polyurethane. I polished up my brass rods in my CH "D" without coating them and within a couple weeks I started seeing them get nasty looking

or I guess "patina". I thought I did a fine job polishing them the 1st time :yes:

but they came out for another polish. This time I coated them with polyurethane and that kept the shin brilliant. I'm sorta glad I got a :blackeye:

with the rods because after that more brass parts came in and they got the same treatment. Only this time those parts only needed one good polish :grin:

by **rustyfoot** on Sun Apr 14, 2013 6:36 pm

vaughn wrote:I wouldn't think aluminum would "patina" but we'll see. I know brass doesn't stay shiny after you polish it without a coat of polyurethane. I polished up my brass rods in my CH "D" without coating them and within a couple weeks I started seeing them get nasty looking or I guess "patina". I thought I did a fine job polishing them the 1st time but they came out for another polish. This time I coated them with polyurethane and that kept the shin brilliant. I'm sorta glad I got a with the rods because after that more brass parts came in and they got the same treatment. Only this time those parts only needed one good polish

Hey Vaughn,
When I used the word Patina..I didn't mean that in the normal sense of the word. I was simply saying that some aging would occur over time, for whatever reason. I will observe any change as time passes. 80 grit glass bead blast using low air pressure works nicely, especially on Darley's crude cast aluminum. :good:

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