Scale Polishing

[MuSAKcian]

I've been reading old posts about polishing scratched up cellidor scales and thought I'd give it on an old scratched up Fisherman I inherited from my workplace's Lost & Found. Here are the before and after shots!

It had quite some scratches and appeared more matte before, but I tried rubbing it against my mousepad untill it has some shine.

I used wet sandpaper 320>600>800>1200, then Meguiar's Scratch X to buffer and it really brings the shine back to it's glory days!

I can't seem to remove the tiny scratches though. Is it because I didn't sand enough, or did I use a wrong cloth?
I used a fuzzy microfiber cloth to buffer the scale.

Or is it never possible to restore it to its brand new state again?

[BarbaBaba]

I usually do it almost the same way you did. I wet sand with 800+1200grit with a erasing gum as a block. Then I polish with boat polish on a rubber cloth. But... The deeper scratches you have left is because you did not sand them off in the first place. I have succefully restored celidor before, using acetone. Acetone will desolve the scale material, so just put a drop on the deep scratch an blow it dry. Do not wipe it. The scale will look melted where the acetone was, and then start sanding again.

[MuSAKcian]

I usually do it almost the same way you did. I wet sand with 800+1200grit with a erasing gum as a block. Then I polish with boat polish on a rubber cloth. But... The deeper scratches you have left is because you did not sand them off in the first place. I have succefully restored celidor before, using acetone. Acetone will desolve the scale material, so just put a drop on the deep scratch an blow it dry. Do not wipe it. The scale will look melted where the acetone was, and then start sanding again.

Thanks for the tip BarbaBaba!

Ah so I actually need to put in a lot more sanding then! It always looked as if it's smooth enough between sanding.

Would isopropyl alcohol yield the same results too?

[BarbaBaba]

Thanks for the tip BarbaBaba!

Ah so I actually need to put in a lot more sanding then! It always looked as if it's smooth enough between sanding.

Would isopropyl alcohol yield the same results too?

I am not sure about the alcohol, but it might. Just be careful so you don´t melt them

[Farmer X]

A very nice polish job! As for the alcohol, I think I've gotten it on Cellidor with no adverse effects. Maybe I'll leave some old scales in alcohol for a while and see what happens.