Fork leg lower refinishing CB400F

[hiltonig]

Ok what’s the best method of getting the fork lower legs refurbishment back to a standard finish , your help very much appreciated

[Nurse Julie]

Satin finish polishing.

[hiltonig]

Any recommendations for,people to do this ? Manu thanks

[Nurse Julie]

Any recommendations for,people to do this ? Manu thanks

It's the sort of job to be doing DIY to be honest, you need polishing mops etc. I think Ted has recently done some satin finish on his forks, or was it someone else 🤔🤔🤔🤔, can't remember now. But, maybe you could get some pointer from Ted, or whomever it was.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

My fork legs I think are shown in the polishing thread.
My BiL uses 1000 grit Wet & Dry using 3in1 oil instead of water.
You get results pretty easily if your forks are not too badly corroded by salt.

I found Solvolautosol gives it a sort of Satin finish - lots of elbow grease required.

[Oddjob]

The problem is contamination of the alloy, they get all sorts of stuff that soaks into the surface, unless you remove this it will come back to haunt you with discolouration and unsightly marks appearing on what looks to be a nice finish. The fork castings aren't the best in the world either, lots of marks and blemishes will appear when you start to strip off the original finish, plus they'll be numerous stone strikes and pits you'll need to get rid off for a decent result. In some ways getting them to a mirror shine and then going back down the scale works best. I've heard getting them really polished and then scuffing them up with a green kitchen scourer works for a satin finish. Never done that myself, if I can get them to a mirror finish it seems a real shame to spoil the effect.

[SeanFD]

I did mine using just a polishing kit from eBay; it was quite easy really.

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I'm not sure if that is teh finish you're after, but I was quite pleased with it - and myself! 

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

That looks a tidy finish Sean - did it take a lot of time to get there?

[SeanFD]

Thanks Ted. No, that was what surprised me - maybe an hour or two, if I remember correctly. The second one was much quicker and so much better than my first attempt, that I had to go back and do the first one again.

[Multiman]

Looks good.
Can I ask which kit?
I maybe stripping my forks in the near future so might as well give em a good polish whilst apart.
Cheers
Tim

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Come on Sean spill the beans what was in the kit - did it include  a French Droid related to Ken perchance?

[SeanFD]

Haha, sorry guys, I had to do a bit of research to find the stuff.

I got one of these kits:
https://metalpolishingsupplies.co.uk/collections/pro-max-metal-polishing-kits/type-of-metal_aluminium-alloys+to-be-used-on-a_bench-grinder[/url]

I can't remember which one exactly, but I didn't use the flexi-thing a lot, so wouldn't bother with that.

"French Droid"? Do tell!

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Droid (short for android) is like a robot scutter (Red Dwarf)?

French due to your location nothing to do with letters.

Don't work if I have to explain - my bad.

[Multiman]

Cheers
I shall take a look
Ta