So I had a chance to check the oxalic acid option yesterday - nice weather and the kids in their rooms for a while,
Carb_Restore_Oxalic-16 by
clair_davis, on Flickr
so I mixed up at test batch of acid consisting of a fat TBSP of the powder in about a cup of hot water.
Carb_Restore_Oxalic-17 by
clair_davis, on Flickr
Carb_Restore_Oxalic-18 by
clair_davis, on Flickr
Painted it on with a small brush...
Carb_Restore_Oxalic-19 by
clair_davis, on Flickr
...and let it sit for 2-3 hours since it didn't start foaming right away like the Eagle1 stuff did...
Carb_Restore_Oxalic-20 by
clair_davis, on Flickr
Since it had dried out, I wet it down again and I didn't have a lot of faith that anything had happened. However, once I rinsed it and dried it, I could see that had done something:
Carb_Restore_Oxalic-21 by
clair_davis, on Flickr
I added the lines to help define the breaks a little better. The oxalic acid brightened the aluminum much more than the Eagle1 did, but not quite as bright as the walnut shells did. I may do a follow-up test with some oxalic over the Eagle1 to see if it brightens up any, but I may just follow the oxalic acid with a dusting of walnut shells for a little more shine.
That's all I've got for now. We'll see how this turns out in the next week or so if I'm lucky.
Clair