Ya know..........IF I didn't have to deal with people, I'd start back up my custom metal polishing services.
NASTY AF WORK! It's very satisfying for someone that's sorta OCD. I was VERY OCD with my polishing. Polishing wheels and stuff like that is ok for satisfaction. The real deal is taking a cast part and giving it a clear, deep, flawless finish. Naturally the quality of the casting matters and limiting the porosity effects the end product.
I got into polishing and custom polishing, when I started customizing my Mach1. I had custom forged retro wheels. Perfect retro wheel for a retro car and with it being forged, the quality of the finish can be quite stunning. Most people thought mine were chrome plated and wanted to know who plated them. LOL!
Purdy wheels will only get ya so far in car shows. Ya need a few things to stand out. So I created my own. Lots of cast aluninum parts on that big(size, not displacement) ol' DOHC Ford ModMotor.
I removed the intake manifold, cam covers and front scoop mount from the engine. Not getting into methods, ya have to progressivly remove and refine the imperfections to get the part down to a finish that can be polished. The vast amount of the work can be done with a buffing motor on a stand, various types of wheels and compounds. Then there's all the fine detail work. The areas that hand sanding and grinding with a tiny dremel tool. I cleaned up the lines on the cam covers by removing sections that were there as part of the casting process, silly Ford design or unappealing parts that broke up the flow of the part.
It was something that no one else had on their car. Naturally people ask where I had it done. When saying that I did it, the next thing is "How much would you charge me?"
It kinda grew from there. Luckily, it moved from the average car enthusiast, that really doesn't understand or appreciate the difference in custom grinding and polishing. The difference in a finish that most people would be very happy with and a finish is 'show car quality' is quite large, in time, therefore expense.
The guys that actually build custom cars from the ground up, DO appreciate that extra level. Other than stuff for close friends, I started doing stuff for custom car builders. This was just a spare time killer to keep me outta mischief.
It ate into sleep time, so I got a kid to rough out stuff and then I refine it. Still stayed busy AF! I finally just got more selective in whom I did work.
When I went back to take care of Mom 24/7, I stopped doing any polishing work.
I still get emails about it. I guess covid made me more anti-social.
