Grilldemon
XS400 Member
I'm rebuilding an 82 XS400J for Mama's first bike. Started with the front forks. While I'm waiting for parts, I decided to do some polishing:
Here's what I started with:
And the finished result:
After disassembly and a thorough cleaning, I wet sanded with 400 to knock off the clear and silver coating off. Starting with a sisal buff and autosol, I buffed and buffed. Switched to a spiral buff, and more autosol (cleaning the buffs with a rake as I went) until I got the finish seen in the 2nd picture. A final shine with a canton buff and a hand rub down.
A couple of tricks:
Apply the autosol with your fingers and rub it on the area you are buffing. (The oils in your fingers help clean, learned this polishing brass for my uniform in cadets many many years ago), and if you just put it on and start buffing the wheel just flings it all over the place.
Fork # 2 is in the process. When I get them both done, I will clear coat them
I used my trusty dewalt drill for this. I am also in the process of acquiring a bench buffer, a lot easier on the arms for pieces like this.
Here's what I started with:
And the finished result:
After disassembly and a thorough cleaning, I wet sanded with 400 to knock off the clear and silver coating off. Starting with a sisal buff and autosol, I buffed and buffed. Switched to a spiral buff, and more autosol (cleaning the buffs with a rake as I went) until I got the finish seen in the 2nd picture. A final shine with a canton buff and a hand rub down.
A couple of tricks:
Apply the autosol with your fingers and rub it on the area you are buffing. (The oils in your fingers help clean, learned this polishing brass for my uniform in cadets many many years ago), and if you just put it on and start buffing the wheel just flings it all over the place.
Fork # 2 is in the process. When I get them both done, I will clear coat them
I used my trusty dewalt drill for this. I am also in the process of acquiring a bench buffer, a lot easier on the arms for pieces like this.
