polished forks

what do you think of my polished forks. Just have the front wheel and 1 side cover left and i am done polishing this thing tired of polishing for a little while

 

SHINY!

I was hoping to go for a brushed/wire-wheeled look for my aluminum eventually.

 

nice work
is that stand 5 feet high ? or is that other bike real low

 

Nice
I can see myself in them all the way from NC. I have the forks on all my bikes polished like that. Finish it off with polished stainless bolts.

 

I am glad they are done for sure right now i am about burned out on polishing. Polished the original right fore when i started sanding the left found out the lower leg had a bad casting and was leaking fork oil thru the casting . So i replaced them with another pair i had off a virago so i ended up polishing 3. Will do the front wheel this week. Then i just have 1 crank cover to do which is a major pita. Just like the rear wheel there are 1/8 inch deep machine marks i have to sand out. I have been working on this project everyday for the past 4 weeks. Its come a long ways I think i have between 14-16 hrs just on the rear wheel will be nice to finish up the mechanical stuff in the next few weeks.
Polock the other bike is normal sized. I have the lift raised 30 inches spent way to many years bending down before i got smart and bought a lift now everything is eye level.

 

what is your process for polishing?

 

Depends on the parts. strip off the clear. if the finish is really bad i will 220 it then 400 then 600 and 1k. If your using a buffer you really don't need to use the 1k. Most of the bigger parts forks and wheels i polish by hand using purple metal polish. Smaller parts i use the bench buffer and white rouge. I do all the parts that can't be taken off by hand that way all the wool that flies doesn't get on everything . The front forks only have 3 coats of polish put on by hand and wipe off by hand

 

Get rid of the Clear Coat.
"Airplane" Brand Stripper does a nice job.

Sand-out imperfections.
320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 2500
Begin base polishing.
Hard "Sewn" Buffing Wheel and White or Brown Rouge Compound.
Clean.
Shift to Medium "Sewn" Buffing Wheel.
Jewelers Rouge's.
Number-5 and Number-6.
Shift to Firm Un-sewn Buffing Wheel.
3M Swirl Remover or ZAM.

The More you Buff the Better it gets.

 

i have tried going finer with the paper to me its just a waste with as quick as 1k gets clogged uo its like sanding with much finer sandpaper after a few sec but i keep using it. I have never had a swirl problem but even the parts i do on the machine i always polish them after wards to protect them. The polish even takes the black smudges you get occasionally when you use to much rouge off.

 

Wow nice looking work want to do mine?

 

When you do the 1000, ... you need to do it WET and have an old Pull Trigger Sprayer with warm water in it.

When the 1000 Clogs-up, ... you shoot it with the Sprayer and let the clog drip-off.

Or a Bucket.
Or the old hose trick.

 

Yep, that is pretty well what i did on mine. probably skipped every 2nd paper grade and only used a stitched rag wheel, then an unstitched rag wheel before finishing with Purple metal polish. Tell ya what, the diff is hard to get but its sure worth it!!