Guys, I fucked up. I have what was a beautiful two-tone colander that looked nice and retro, with a shiny red finish. After some use, there was a very tiny amount of rust showing in places around the rim, and my dumbass self decided to soak it in CLR like I do with anything metal that gets signs of rust. It didn’t occur to me that it would remove the gloss finish from the powder-coated enamel.

Now it looks and feels awful, like it has a dull, pink, rubbery coating instead of the beautiful glossy bright red finish of yore.

Is there a product I can use to polish it back to beauty? It wasn’t cheap and has been discontinued, so I’d like to restore it if possible.

I’ve searched online but my Google-fu isn’t worthy, apparently. Thanks in advance!

  • LillyPipOP
    3·
    5 days ago

    I’m hoping to, thanks! I’m not sure what to polish it with, though, especially because it would have to be food-safe…

    • Tehdastehdas@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      4 days ago

      Carnauba wax is food-safe, but non-abrasive, so it won’t smooth the now-etched matte surface, and it’s fairly soft, so not very durable. Many car waxes are based on it.

        • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
          3·
          5 days ago

          I mean…you’d have to have something abrasive to polish something, yes?

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polishing

          Polishing is the process of creating a smooth and shiny surface by rubbing it or by applying a chemical treatment, leaving a clean surface with a significant specular reflection (still limited by the index of refraction of the material according to the Fresnel equations).[1] In some materials (such as metals, glasses, black or transparent stones), polishing is also able to reduce diffuse reflection to minimal values.

          When an unpolished surface is magnified thousands of times, it usually looks like a succession of mountains and valleys. By repeated abrasion, those “mountains” are worn down until they are flat or just small “hills”. The process of polishing with abrasives starts with a coarse grain size and gradually proceeds to the finer ones to efficiently flatten the surface imperfections and to obtain optimal results.

          Maybe you’re saying that the grains in Barkeeper’s Friend are too large?

          Also, I don’t think that the acid is abrasive. I think that that’s the grit in the stuff.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Keepers_Friend

          The 2020 MSDS now gives the abrasive as glass oxide CAS

      • LillyPipOP
        2·
        5 days ago

        I have some of that, but I’ve had it dull proper enamel fired coatings before because it’s very abrasive, so I’m scared to try it on this.

        It’s great for knives and other bare metals. I guess it can’t make it much worse, though, so I’ll try it in a small area, thanks for the suggestion!

        • blackbrook@mander.xyz
          3·
          4 days ago

          I still wouldn’t rule out being able to polish it with a very fine abrasive, like the 3m sheets, rouge, or such, especially if you can make a small test with something you already have. Possibly toothpaste might work.