Paul home polish

[Eliot Balogh]

Eric, how are your home polished Paul’s holding up?

[Eric Marth]

Hi Eliot — Maybe I'll get out the big camera and share some pics tomorrow. Looking nice and smooth to my liking, if a bit dirty. Definitely still prefer it over the original dull silver finish. 

If anyone's curious, we discussed stripping and de-anodizing in another thread here: https://groups.google.com/g/rbw-owners-bunch/c/yiTONeLDy14/m/Som_xgu_AwAJ

And here's a picture of the parts after I de-anodized and polished. One set of neo-retros, touring cantis and moon units were black. The other neo-retros, touring cantis, levers and moon units were Paul "silver" or dull anodized. 

Levers and one full set of brakes are on my Appaloosa. The other set of cantis are on a new build I just finished. 

[Keith Paugh]

I’ve been meaning to ask how you think they compare to the Paul’s Polished.

Yours seem to be slightly more matte than paul’s? (in a better way)

k.

On Jan 21, 2023, at 2:50 PM, Eric Marth <eric...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Eliot — Maybe I'll get out the big camera and share some pics tomorrow. Looking nice and smooth to my liking, if a bit dirty. Definitely still prefer it over the original dull silver finish. 

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[brendonoid]

"The other set of cantis are on a new build I just finished."

Whoa, hold up! What a teaser, I can't wait.

[Tom Norton]

I have the Touring brakes that I would like to make shiney. How did you  remove the  anodized?

Tom

[Garth]

While I don't have any Paul brakes, over Life I've had plenty of aluminum parts that were of a natural, untreated finish. You can polish them all you like, but it doesn't last every long until they require more polishing. The polishing is an attempt to seal the exterior, to create a "buffer" from the elements, so to speak. It's high maintenance for sure as it's only temporary.  The durable hard anodizing manufacturers use is a chemical process and as long they're not exposed to excessive corrosive elements the finish remains indefinitely. Once that finish is removed, there's no going back, they are back to their natural untreated state. A sure way to tell the finish of any aluminum part is to rub it with a clean rag or even your hands as it will leave that telltale gray residue. 

As far as I'm concerned if a part is finished black, or anodized a dull silver, I leave it alone, or don't buy it in the first place if I can't live it as purchased. There can be a few exceptions, notably if it's something tiny. Surely though, I see black and silver parts as complimentary rather than conflicting. 

On Saturday, January 21, 2023 at 6:41:43 PM UTC-5 brendonoid wrote:

[Philip Williamson]

I’m with Garth - if you’ve got anodized parts you’d like to make silver… arrange a trade!

Philip

[lconley]

You are assuming that all anodized parts are available without anodizing, which it not true for all parts. 

Note that most colored anodizing is temporary also, the anodizing fades over time. Easy and cheap to restore polished parts, anodized parts - not so much.

Black parts show wear and scratches much more than silver.

Even the best silver/clear anodizing wears off. I have a well used 50 year old Campagnolo triple crank that has lost its anodizing in many locations, I am sure glad that it isn't black, it would look awful.

I would not consider polished aluminum parts high maintenance, many go for years before needing a quick rub with Simichrome and then they are like new.

You want a high maintenance finish - I have a set of brass Honjo fenders for you. One end of the fender tarnishes as you are polishing the other end.

Laing

[Eliot Balogh]

Can you get the finished product clear coated to help with longevity?

How does Paul treat their factory polished version ?

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[Eric Marth]

Keith: They're not as good as the ones polished at Paul. Mine are good enough for me. Not sure why there's a slightly uneven surface (kinda pitted!) on the black ones. 

Brendon: Got the video roughed in today, it's about 75% done. 

Tom: See my link above to the previous thread on de-anodizing. 

Laing makes a good point, sometimes stuff isn't available in the finish you want. 

Also, Laing: The beauty of the brass is the deep patina! 

I already had the Paul brakes, purchased used. I was interested to learn a new process rather than purchase more parts. I much prefer the finish of a component that's gone from polished to dull rather than the dull/clear anodizing from Paul. And black parts aren't for me, though I picked some up years ago before my tastes and opinions had developed. For me it's not about having and maintaining a perfect finish. 

Eliot: You could likely clear coat or wax your parts to add a little resistance to the finish. If you call Paul and ask how they seal their polished parts I'm sure they'll tell you. With enough use and exposure all polished stuff dulls over time, hence this group and the iBOBs' interest in Simichrome and other metal polishes for older bicycle parts. 

[lconley]

You cannot paint polished parts and have the paint stick well - polishing makes the surface too smooth for the paint to grip.

In my mind. if you want silver, especially polished silver, any type of coating beyond waxing defeats the whole purpose of polishing. Cleaning polished parts is easy.

Note that Velocity will polish rims before anodizing for an extra cost for a very impressive colored finish.

To me, patina is just another word for lazy and not maintained. Beausage is another word for abused. Rusted is not "original". With a few exceptions, nobody sells new rusted bikes.

Laing

On Sunday, January 22, 2023 at 7:17:33 PM UTC-5 eliot...@gmail.com wrote:

[George Schick]

To the question about clear coating a product after polishing:  after working it over with Simichrome polish as Laing says you can clear coat it with a couple of applications of Protectaclear using a foam "brush."  Eventually this will wear off, too, and you will need to remove any residual coating with Xylene before re-polishing and re-coating.  I have a brass bell on one of my bikes that gets this treatment every so often and it holds up pretty well.

Oh, and I fully agree with Laing about the patina, beausage, and rusted.