Thread: Sealer for Aluminium

Originally Posted by glenpinn

Clear anodized angle or plate is horrible, and is far from looking industrial, and industrial in my view should be a matt or worn finish and not something that is polished or shiny, and if anodized aluminium gets scratches on it, you can't do anything about it, where sanded mill plate can be sanded as many times as you like if it gets scratched, so i am not going to use anodized, i want the surface to be natural and not have any kind of spray or coating applied to it.

while most anodised goods will have been polished first, there is no prerequisite for this to be done. You can just sand or bead blast the aluminium to get the patina you desire and then have it anodised. This will confer several advantages worth considering.
Firstly the aluminium will no longer leave dark grey marks on everything that rubs against it, it will be far more scratch resistant, remember aluminium oxide is one of the hardest materials around, most grinding wheels are made of the stuff, and most likely the glass paper you used to sand the soft aluminium had aluminium oxide as the abrasive . It is also much more resistant to corrosion, and while in the fullness of time it may gain some scratches, they will likely be no more offensive than the scratches one finds on a stainless bench top, and will just contribute to the industrial look you are after. While anodised aluminium can be coloured, that is a seperate process, and there is no need for it if you don't want to colour the aluminium, and if you hard anodise, you get a harder surface again which I seem to remember won't accept dies at all, not certain you will need to check that out with the anodisers.

Originally Posted by Ropetangler

while most anodised goods will have been polished first, there is no prerequisite for this to be done. You can just sand or bead blast the aluminium to get the patina you desire and then have it anodised. This will confer several advantages worth considering.

I didn't know that i can still sand the aluminium and then have it anodized leaving the surface exactly the way it was after sanding, i assumed that the anodizing process would cause the surface to become smooth again during that process.

I might just take one of the sanded drawer fronts to an anodizing place and show it to them and see what they have to say, and get a quote to do all the sanded aluminium i will have for this island bar to see what it will cost me, as long as it leaves the surface basically the same as it was when sanded, and not leave it shiny or a different color.