How do you bring back the luster on Bakelite?

[old buicks]

Working on some Bakelite horn buttons and spark and throttle rings that are made of Bakelite. They are a dull brown caulky color now with age. How do I bring back the polished luster of fresh Bakelite. :confused:

[keiser31]

You may need to find someone who restores old telephones. Some of the early phone boxes with the black cones need fixing. They may know how to polish them up.

[Restorer32]

We have successfully polished Bakelite using regular jewelers rouge on a wheel. The hard part is holding onto the piece so it doesn't fly across the shop.

[Grimy]

For the reason Restorer32 alludes to, I've always been wary of using a conventional buffing wheel to polish a rare Bakelite distributor cap, so I've tried other means. I've had very good results from using hand application of Meguiar's Trim Detailer (also good for the black or gray plastic trim on modern iron), followed by a small buffing wheel on a Dremel when absolutely necessary. It may take two or three applications to achieve satisfactory results. I urge you to take suitable precautions even when polishing by hand: I do so standing over a kitchen table that is padded with a moving pad or several thicknesses of blankets, and with barriers around the work area to keep the workpiece from falling off the surface onto the floor. I also perform the work very close to the padded surface.

When using the Dremel buffer, I try to have a well-trusted friend hold the workpiece.

Take your time!

[Guest Paul R.]

Believe it or not! Brasso works very well. I've used it on an old Bakelite radio.

[Rusty_OToole]

Ask an old radio fan. There are collectors of old tube radios with bakelite cases that have this down to a science.

There is a special polish for bakelite but I don't remember the name. There are several BBS for antique radios, they will be able to tell you.

...........................................Later....................................

Did a quick Google search and came up with these

http://www.radiolaguy.com/info/clean-shine.htm

http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=78776

Edited December 31, 2011 by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)

[DavidAU]

I have used brasso and also duco paint cutting compound by hand on bakelite parts on English cars and they have polished up well.

[Guest rsd9699]

I use liquid shoe polish then hand polish like a shoe.

Ron

[Bleach]

I used Old English scratch remover to restore the shine on an old weathered bakelite telephone back in the late 70's. It took a few well saturated applications in the beginning. It still looks great today.