Guys, I fucked up. I have what was a beautiful two-tone colander that looked nice and retro, with a shiny red finish. After some use, there was a very tiny amount of rust showing in places around the rim, and my dumbass self decided to soak it in CLR like I do with anything metal that gets signs of rust. It didn’t occur to me that it would remove the gloss finish from the powder-coated enamel.

Now it looks and feels awful, like it has a dull, pink, rubbery coating instead of the beautiful glossy bright red finish of yore.

Is there a product I can use to polish it back to beauty? It wasn’t cheap and has been discontinued, so I’d like to restore it if possible.

I’ve searched online but my Google-fu isn’t worthy, apparently. Thanks in advance!

  • @Brkdncr
    5•5 days ago

    You could try to polish it.

    • @[email protected]
      3•5 days ago

      I second this, if it’s really a hard a material. From the word enamel I assumed a sort of ceramic coating, but the word ‘rubbery’ gives me a little hesitation.

      Anyway, a hard coating could be polished back to a shine with 3M polishing paper. The product I’m thinking of comes in a pack with 6 sheets, each a different grit, and they get fine enough that you could restore scratched and cloudy glass to clear.

      • @[email protected]OP
        1•5 days ago

        The product description said ‘powder-coated enameled finish’, and I had thought ‘enameled’ may have referred to the outer layer I destroyed. So now I’m just dealing with the powder coating.

        I think I’ll try your recommendation first – it’s the most food-safe and makes the most sense to me. Kinda worried I’ve irreparably ruined it without re-coating and re-firing it. I hope that’s not the case, and the ‘enameled’ part referred to the white inner bit which didn’t dull in the soak.

        e: maybe someone who knows more about these terms than me will chime in? I know a little about them because my grandmother taught ceramics and my father is in aviation where they do powder coatings, but not enough, obviously.

        • @[email protected]English
          6•5 days ago

          The powder coat is the enamel. It’s a ceramic powder that’s sprayed on and then cooked in a furnace.

          You have etched it. That, I am sorry to say, is permanent. If you have access to a furnace you could try refiring it, a few minutes at 1500 f would do it, if it can be done at all. You’ve basically turned a smooth glass layer in to a kind of sponge. You need to melt that outer surface again.

          • @[email protected]OP
            4•5 days ago

            Oh no.

            Thanks for letting me know. I may have access to that kind of furnace, but I’m not sure I could convince them to put my stupid little colander in there, because that’s silly.

            I appreciate your insight, even though it makes me sad. I kinda thought that might be the case, though. Cheers.

              • @TehdastehdasEnglish
                4•4 days ago

                When I needed to anodise an aluminium object, I took it to the back door of a medium-sized coating company that serves businesses. I included a note with some relevant information: “no rush, do it when it’s easy for you”, acceptable range of colours, and my contact info. Took a while, the result was perfect, the price was low.

    • @[email protected]OP
      3•5 days ago

      I’m hoping to, thanks! I’m not sure what to polish it with, though, especially because it would have to be food-safe…

      • @TehdastehdasEnglish
        2•4 days ago

        Carnauba wax is food-safe, but non-abrasive, so it won’t smooth the now-etched matte surface, and it’s fairly soft, so not very durable. Many car waxes are based on it.

        • @eran_morad
          9•5 days ago

          Do not suggest. Oxalic acid is abrasive.

          • @[email protected]English
            3•5 days ago

            I mean…you’d have to have something abrasive to polish something, yes?

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polishing

            Polishing is the process of creating a smooth and shiny surface by rubbing it or by applying a chemical treatment, leaving a clean surface with a significant specular reflection (still limited by the index of refraction of the material according to the Fresnel equations).[1] In some materials (such as metals, glasses, black or transparent stones), polishing is also able to reduce diffuse reflection to minimal values.

            When an unpolished surface is magnified thousands of times, it usually looks like a succession of mountains and valleys. By repeated abrasion, those “mountains” are worn down until they are flat or just small “hills”. The process of polishing with abrasives starts with a coarse grain size and gradually proceeds to the finer ones to efficiently flatten the surface imperfections and to obtain optimal results.

            Maybe you’re saying that the grains in Barkeeper’s Friend are too large?

            Also, I don’t think that the acid is abrasive. I think that that’s the grit in the stuff.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Keepers_Friend

            The 2020 MSDS now gives the abrasive as glass oxide CAS

        • @[email protected]OP
          2•5 days ago

          I have some of that, but I’ve had it dull proper enamel fired coatings before because it’s very abrasive, so I’m scared to try it on this.

          It’s great for knives and other bare metals. I guess it can’t make it much worse, though, so I’ll try it in a small area, thanks for the suggestion!

          • @[email protected]
            3•4 days ago

            I still wouldn’t rule out being able to polish it with a very fine abrasive, like the 3m sheets, rouge, or such, especially if you can make a small test with something you already have. Possibly toothpaste might work.