Hobo Polish

[Pickleman]

I like shiney airplanes. A LOT. I knew that plans built #116 would some day be sporting some shine. I turned web page after web page of pics featuring Globe Swifts and polished warbirds as I drooled on my computer screen. Then I flew a friend's polished 180 hp RV6. One bank into the setting sun . . . And I KNEW my Sonex would now have combined paint and polish! Being blinded on final is no fun. I am now pretty sure that #116 will have white wings on top, some blue trim, and lots of shiney everywhere else.

As a scratch builder, I kinda obsess over details. I also become aggrieved at the cost of "stuff." Now I do not mean to infer that prices on Sonex's web site are expensive. I belive, after more than a decade of cutting parts and banging rivets on #116, that Sonex has NAILED the value part of the equation. While I have saved considerable sums of money buy building everything myself, I have expended vast amounts of time. But I LOVE building, and always have had an airplane or two or three to fly so I didn't feel any compulsion to hurry.

As I began to assemble the gear to polish, I did the usual double take on pricing Nuvite. Whoa! Holy Schnike! Just about then, an 80' long vision in white, chrome, and polished aluminum came rumbling up to my hangar. My brother swung by to finagle me into hiding a 3000 watt generator somewhere on his truck where no one would see it and steal it. He is a long haul owner operator, and his brand new big rig was covered in ACRES of polished aluminum. I had test polished a few bits of aluminum in there, comparing some leftover nuvite from a friend's build with some locally available polishes from the car world. The nuvite was the clear winner over ANYTHING available locally. My brother saw me covered in blackened goo (I hadn't yet learned that too much polish is bad yet) laughed at me, then ran to his truck and came back with a bottle of "Hobo Polish." He explained that the aluminum tanks, deck, bumpers, steps, boxes and dang near everything not frame or fiberglass was delivered in mill run, unpolished aluminum. He further explained that a culture of homeless folks in the South and Southwest have developed a business model that involves camping near huge truck stops, brewing a semi-liquid polish, using it to HAND POLISH wheels, tanks, and bumpers, and then drinking up the proceeds of the day at their nightly campfires. They also sell 24-32 ounce bottles of their polish for a near universal $20. The truckers have their favorite hobo brews and hobo polishers. I tried his polish, and it easily worked as well as the Nuvite. No joke. I went online and researched it, and a lot of these guys live dangerously. They melt rouge with paint thinner or lighter fluid over an OPEN CAMPFIRE to melt the wax binders in the bar rouge and mix with things like Fruit Fresh or Koolaid (powdered citric acid) Car polish, Rainex, ammonia, and a host of other stuff that will kill you if consumed or breathed!

I was intrigued enough to experiment. Every truck stop in the nation has one pound bars of rouge in white, blue, red/brown, and pale green. They cost $8-$10 bucks each. You will need one of the brown and two of the green. You will need one gallon of paint thinner from wally's world or the home depot aircraft supply. Buy a small bottle of original formula Rainex, and a can of your favorite paste style auto wax. $30 bucks for the rouge, $10 bucks, for the thinner, $5 for the Rainex, and $8 for the wax makes all of the polish you will need for the Sonex, and leave you plenty of finish polish for the next few years.

I made three grades thusly: first, pound the block of red rouge into powder on a clean sheet of material (I used a 3'X3' bit if steel sheet) using a 3 lb. sledge and sweep up the resulting crumbles. Place in an empty 1/2 gallon container, add 1/3 of the paint thinner, and let sit over night. Since I have niether the testicular fortitude nor the lack of fear that an alcohol hazed mind provides the Hobo, I elected to avoid heat altogether--campfire or hot plates--as some internet sites reference! Instead, I snuck in the wife's back up aiplane tool supply, and copped her old, no longer used immersion blender. I used that the next day to puree the few chunks that remained. The resulting brew is my coarse grade polish. I repeat with the green for the medium passes. Then I repeat once more with the second green bar, adding the Rainex and paste wax. I then decant into empty water bottles and label with a sharpie. The product separates into layers and has to be shaken befor use.

Three passes with the coarse red provides a slightly disappointing shine. The first pass with the green gives a pretty impressive reflection. The second pass with the green will have you looking at the details in the reflection, like the blackened splattered on your clothes and eyelids! The next two passes with the final polish-green with additives-- gives a real depth to the polish. I chose NOT to add the acids, ammonias, and trick ingredients. They cut elbow grease, but . . .

All in all, a home builder's answer to an expensive product. Oh year, the compounding is done with a heavy old Soux polisher, and the final DA polish is done with a harbor freight tool.

And, I'm not spending nearly as long as some of you guys . . . Seven hours for all stages for the fuse. I think putting too much polish on = spending too much time removing it!

Andy

[GordonTurner]

All I can say is "wow".

[Bryan Cotton]

Gordon beat me to it.

[daleandee]

Three passes with the coarse red provides a slightly disappointing shine. The first pass with the green gives a pretty impressive reflection. The second pass with the green will have you looking at the details in the reflection, like the blackened splattered on your clothes and eyelids! The next two passes with the final polish-green with additives-- gives a real depth to the polish.

I had a shiny Sonex once. Wasn't too bad to keep shiny but I knew then the next one would have paint on it for several reasons including the one you mentioned. I now sport a 20 lbs paint job.

But my question is ... can you post some photos of your progress? I'm curious to see your results!

Thanks,

Dale
N319WF

[wlarson861]

the difference between this and Nuvite is that you are removing metal to get to the shine where as Nuvite is a burnish meaning it moves the metal rather than removing it, I would think that each application would be removing several microns of metal more than Nuvite

[Pickleman]

pics!
https://imageshack.com/i/knaUsJqcj

Initially, I had the same concerns as Bill Larson, i.e. Was I eroding too much metal? I had read about "healing metal," "burnishing metal," and polishing. But after researching the Tripoli rouge, the green grades of rouge, and comparing them to perfectpolish.com , I quit worrying. http://www.perfectpolish.com/app_guide.html
A Nuvite dealer, they clearly state "Nuvite F9, Very coarse grade. This grade has large sharp particles that remain sharp and do not break down during the polishing. It is used on severely corroded finishes or on new aluminum that has a rough mill finish."

So I believe a bit of mythology has pervaded the art of polishing aluminum. When one thinks HARD about it, the very act of polishing and buffing really boils down to a series of progressively finer abrasives and their carriers, which tend to carry more wax or oils as they become finer. Flour and talcum powder are abrasives too . . . Just pretty fine ones. To move metal, even by burnishing, requires an application of friction and a polishing material or heat.

Also, http://www.pjtool.com/jewelers-rouge-chart.aspx describes the abrasive levels of the rouge used. Even the red/brown bars of Tripoli are approved for precious metals, and dudes who polish gold and silver are REALLY concerned about the loss of materials. ;)

Having a sample of Nuvite to compare to, and reading perfect polish.com was reassuring. I am convinced that there is no measurable wear with a lifetime of polishing REASONABLY using either polish. I looked at the other additives, the citric acids, the ammonia, and the lighter fluids, and I was pretty sure I didn't want to be breathing them or exposing the airframe to them. See . . . I told you I obsess too much!

If the Pics need some 'splaining, the first two are the horizontal stab set out side in the light. It has three passes with the red rouge/paint thinner mix, two passes with the green rouge/paint thinner mix, and two passes with the green rouge, paint thinner, Rainex, and car wax.

There was no extra lighting in the hangar, and the fuselage one with the foam bonnet has three passes with the red/brown tripoli mix, and two passes with the green mix with no additives. I am about to begin two passes with the foam pad and the green mix with the paste wax and Rainex.

The one with the wool bonnet has one pass with the red rouge/paint thiner, and in the middle of the second pass.

[Bryan Cotton]

Andy,
Looks great! Post some pics of the whole airplane sometime.