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Oxalic Acid - Resurrecting a 1941 Schwinn Cadillac!
I have a question on the frame polishing with the power tool....howd you do that without marring/burning the paint? explain the process please...looks like it was a great method.
I have polished original paint on many cars and bikes from the teens-2000's, so I was very careful to start off. But I was really happy to see how durable this old (probably lead-based) paint was. There were a couple areas where I slightly burned through to the red primer. It was almost inevitable - either I had to leave the area hazy looking, or I was going to shine it up and burn through a little bit. I chose the latter.
The paint in those areas was half work through to start with.
The process in detail: wet sanded with 800 grit sandpaper. Then I wet buffed with 3M #1 compound. I believe I finished with #2 compound (not shown in video). Then I wash off the frame to remove any residue. I dried it off then applied boiled linseed oil. After that was half dry, I wiped off the excess.
Honestly this made a huge mess lol... Even though I did wet sanding and wet buffing, I wore a mask because dust got everywhere. There was also a mess of pink/red stain from oxidized buffed paint all over the floor. Wear a shirt you aren't afraid of destroying.
Way more work than I hope it would be, and way harder than buffing a car honestly... But it was worth it with this bike. Maybe not monetarily "worth it", but it's nice to know this process can bring back something that was as rough as this bike was!
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