Finishing aluminium inlaid chessboard

[Nicola]

Hello oh knowledgeable ones! I have a finishing dilemma - I have just finished a chess board in Walnut, Rosewood and Burr Oak. It is for a client's wedding anniversary and they asked me to inlay their family crests in various timbers, including Aluminium as it represents their 10th year.
I am struggling to decide what finish to give the whole piece. Danish Oil is my finish of choice usually but I don't think that will stop the Aluminium oxidising over time. So I looked into varnishing techniques on the Internet and I'm thinking either the 'one coat shellac followed by many coats lacquer' or 'one coat Danish oil followed by millions of coats of wipe on poly' sanding between and polishing after (although I don't want a high gloss finish) The thing is I have read that some varnishes won't adhere to Aluminium and will eventually flake off but can't find a definitive answer. Arrrgghhhhhh! I don't know what to do - penny for your thoughts, I'd be very grateful!

 

[sunnybob]

Dont use aluminium on a cheese board. One slice with a knife and its all over.
Thats my thoughts.
:roll:

 

[Nicola]

I don't think they'll be cutting cheese on a chess board!!

 

[AES]

I think it depends on both the exact aluminium alloy, and on the finish you use, but one thing I can definitely say is that in aviation (where a lot of aluminium in many different alloys are used) one thing that's NEVER done is to try any coating (paint, varnish, etc) on to bare alli. It just will not adhere in the long term.

The answer (in aviation) is to use an etch primer. As the name suggests, it's very slightly acidic, and chemically etches itself minutely into the surface of the ali. After that, then paint, clear varnish, etc as required (you'd be surprised at the weird and wonderful liveries some airlines, etc want)! But that is of course, a pretty harsh environment - much more so than a chess board!

OTOH, think of hi fi equipment, kitchen machinery, etc, which often has what is referred to as a "brushed aluminium" finish on front panels, etc. This seems quite a nice looking semi matt finish and is fairly resistant to finger marks. I don't know how that's done, but perhaps it's worth a Google or a Wiki using the "brushed aluminium" term? At any rate I guess (purely guesswork) that it will involve some sort of etching primer. But with just a single square on the chessboard in ali (??) it shouldn't be too difficult.

Another idea is to look at the people who make scale model aircraft. Those models are mainly plastic but they often have a need to replicate the bare ali finish seen on a lot of aircraft for which I believe they use various special paints which also etch themselves into the plastic. Not sure about that either though.

Not a huge help I realise, but perhaps worth a look in 2 possible "different directions" for ideas?

 

[Rorschach]

I use polished aluminium a fair bit and it will not oxidise under normal conditions.

 

[Inspector]

Search for clear coating aluminium and it should lead you to some spray cans that will do the job on the aluminium. Finding one that will work on the wood too might take some asking of finishing suppliers.

See if this stuff is sold in the UK.
https://www.cerakoteguncoatings.com/fin ... gJKcfD_BwE

Pete

 

[Eric The Viking]

+1 for Rorschach's comment.

It's even then a bit tricky, as the act of polishing it produces a lot of blackness on the polishing cloth, and I'm guessing you don't want that on the wood surface!

Are you able to polish the inlay before inlaying it? That would probably work well.

I did an edging strip for some mosaic tiles in one of our bathrooms that way - just extruded angle profile, but polished to a high shine. It's up high out of reach so never gets any attention but has stayed pretty shiny - dulled off a bit but it does get all the steam from the shower.

HTH.

E.

Polish, IIRC was just Autosol, possibly finished with Duraglit then washed off with Meths. A polishing mop on a grinder works really well and it's fast.

 

[Jamesc]

Have a look at Renaisance Wax. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Renaissance-Micro-Crystalline-Wax-65/dp/B001UON1CY

It is designed for museums to clean and conserve multiple materials. My wife has been using it on her mixed material jewellery to great success. A little goes a really long way and because it has a higher melting point than bees wax it feels silky smooth to the touch.

James

 

[sunnybob]

should have gone to specsavers.

 

[Droogs]

use the shiny side of baking foil and mix up some fish or rabbit glue to keep it in place and you will be fine - just like gilding

 

[Racers]

Use stainless steel and tell them its polished aluminium?

Or put a little bit underneath the SS

Pete

 

[TheTiddles]

The aluminium is already oxidised, it oxidises in nano-seconds. The useful thing about aluminium is the oxide is (under normal conditions) stable and remains bonded to the substrate, unlike iron oxide which we can see expands and flakes off the substrate, exposing material underneath that does the same and hence eventually the steel is gone and all you've got is a pile of orange cornflakes.

Sanding/polishing the aluminium is easy, the downside being the wood is much softer, so it's easy to dimple in the wood around the metal, you can avoid this by putting the abrasive on a hard flat object like a piece of ground flat gauge plate or glass. The other problem is the black dust getting in the wood, lost of sanding sealer is my solution to this, it's fine on dark woods but on light, less successful.

Some wax over the top will protect the wood, it'll just rub off the metal (which doesn't need any protection)

Aidan

 

[Inspector]

Aidan you are correct about pure aluminium but many of the alloys which people work with don't form a protective layer. They continually corrode and need to be protected by a coating or anodizing. If the OP has one of the alloys he will need to cover it.

Pete

 

[TheTiddles]

"Pure" aluminium is a rare thing and only really available as laboratory samples as it's pretty well useless, but fun to play with.

1000 grade is the usual commercially available low alloying content alloy and it most definitely forms a stable oxide in room conditions. 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000, 7000 and 8000 also do in my experience, I've never used 2000 but I'd bet it does too. If you're referring to a grade that's not one of those, then you're outside of my experience and I'll yield to your wisdom on the subject.

In abrasive, chemical or galvanic corrosion conditions I would not expect that layer to be durable for the application, but for a chess board, it's probably ok.

Aidan

 

[Inspector]

I worked in aviation and in aerospace manufacturing. I have worked with most of those and the 2000 series. It is better than 6000 series for not blackening your hands when handled. 7000 would corrode after machining if the operators didn't clean off the water based coolants. By pure I meant the 1000 series, sorry.

Pete

 

[julianf]

Unless you have no option, or the job is already done, just buy anodised, and that's that! : )

If you're stuck I work with anodised sheet all week long - i buy multiple 8x4 sheets of it at once - I'm sure I could saw a bit off for you.