The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I recently had an aluminum slip-on concert mandrel made. I would like age the look of the mandrel. Any ideas? Tips/tricks?

Thanks,
Scott

Seems hard to achieve. Aluminum oxides slowly, and in a unique way it would appear. I polished a spun aluminum horn almost 8 years ago and it took that long to slowly "fog" up. Maybe exposing it to the steam of your shower for a few weeks?

Scott,

Car buffs use oven cleaner on aluminum to give it a darker aged look. Just be careful how long you keep it on. Test a little spot first and wash off quickly, then try again with a little more exposure, and so on....

Steve

Both good ideas. Oven cleaner scares BUT...I have a trashed reproduction aluminum horn I may try it on.

Luckily this is a reproduction mandrel. Worse case I have another made.

Thanks for the quick replies.

My shower suggestion was purely intuitive. However, I have learned the hard way that looking for a fast solution to any phonograph problem almost always causes a new problem. Ever tried to force a screw out and snapped the head off? Hmm Hmm....

I had a copper plate for a phonograph which had become partly green through water damage so I cleaned it up completely using metal polish but the problem was that it just looked too new. My solution was to leave it outside for a few months exposed to the elements. For me it worked a treat. I just left it ontop of my garage roof for about 3 months and the wind, rain and sun did the rest. It worked a treat and now looks "correct" Of course I have no idea how aluminium ages when exposed to the weather - but it might be worth a try - also the weather where I live was a mixture of cool and hot but also wet and sunny!
S-B-H