Jeweling Aluminum! How-To Video Tutorial for a Great Looking Surface Finish!

Jeweling (also known as enging tuning or Damascene or Mottling) is an easy process that can be done at home that gives aluminum or any metal a great looking finish! It is a series of circles that is often seen on fire trucks, airplanes, rifles and shotguns!
In this video, I show how easy it can be done, my preferred method and a few tips & tricks! 5 Reasons to Use a Fixture Plate on Your CNC Machine: bit.ly/3sNA4uH

[@Rio97621]

That's very nice. I'd like to try this and then follow with color anodize. This would be a part of a car instrument panel, so the black anodize would help dull the reflection (I hope), yet be more interesting than plain aluminum.

[@BrandonMatthewHB]

Where do you buy those small abrasive bits? The green 3M style but?

[@johnfair62]

Thank you very much for teaching us how to do this. You just saved me a lot of money. I am going to make my own dash panels now.

[@franciscodiaz8331]

Where can I buy the rods ?? How small diameter rods do they sell?

[@Cageey1117]

Trying swishing in kerosene to clean off oil based grit.

[@difflocktwo]

How about one of those small handheld steam cleaners to remove the paste? I find they blast grease off metal surfaces very well.

[@arprecisionmodshop-1446]

This is hands down the best instructional video about jeweling I've found. Fantastic job. I love that you covered the mill and a drill press. Thank you!

[@wildrangeringreen]

normally, you apply the abrasive paste to the rod, rather than the part; Doing that would help limit the amount you're using and make clean up easier (might not be great in the CNC to recharge the bit, but manually, it works great). I love engine-turned (jeweled) finishes! Anyone have experience applying a rusting finish or anodization, ect over the jeweled pattern?

[@samhuff4725]

Im looking to try this by hand on my small press, so id rather not use a compound. How do your results look when using that ziptied wire brush or the dremel sanding drum?

[@ricky80ss]

what's the name of the rubber rod, where do you buy it?

[@Chuckq1]

Trans Am Specialties craytex

[@porscheguy09]

If I did this on something like a large dashboard bezel I’d get done thinking that I did an awesome job only to realize that I moved the piece over an inch instead of a half inch in one spot and left a full circle right in the middle of the piece and it’s just staring at me.

[@WannabeWoodsman]

If using the drill press to do this on a round part how would you go about doing it around the entire piece such as a rifle bolt?

[@difflocktwo]

Yeah a small aluminium block, like the one in the video, would get too hot to handle. Cheaper steam cleaners don't really have the high temperatures and pressures of industrial steam cleaners but for small tasks they work well. You don't need running water to clean parts and if the part is hard to wipe down (not smooth) the residual heat drys the part quickly from the small amount of condensed water left behind from the steam cleaning. It is kind of like a compressor air gun at 250F.

[@stevendee2831]

I used to have a can of clover compound I got from my gramps garage it was about the size of a nokorode Flux can and man it was old but still usable .

[@PaulZink]

Thanks for the easy-to-understand video. I'm planning on using a friend's drill press to jewel the surface of a (removable) thin aluminum retaining ring on a sportscar steering wheel (holds the wheel to the hub). Two questions: 1) I got a piece of 3/8" diameter aluminum dowel, cut down to workable length, to put in the drill press as an applicator (should make 3/8" diameter circles, I hope), and… 2) I got a jar of water-based valve-grinding compound from NAPA to use as the abrasive agent. Don't know the grit, it seems fairly fine. Should those work OK? And I can always get a pencil with an eraser if necessary!

[@johnbell7575]

Thank you Paul. As usual I learned a lot.

[@alvar0pere7]

@John NYCCNC Absolutely. I'm currently without a cnc machine so its nice to see it can be done with a drill press. On the topic of music, while I always applaud an increase in production value, I myself do most of my viewing on a mobile device and I don't always have my headphones with me. For that reason I prefer DIY vids to be free from unnecessary sound so I don't miss any of the important info. Just an opinion though. Keep em coming man!!

[@rustygoldfanatic8830]

Its also anti glare on aircraft and early race cars dash boards.

[@AdditiveAvery]

What you essentially made was a wire bond brush, what we use in aviation to remove paint, corrosion, and chemical conversion from the surface to bond a ground. If you spin it fast enough, you don't need any paste. Just be careful to not press to hard or you will gaul the aluminum. Wire-Bonding-Brush-for-Bonding-Jumpers-Aircraft-Tool-/

[@TAWPTool]

Awesome video as usual! I haven't tried yet, but it seems that a solvent tank would be ideal to clean off the lapping compound. I have also had good success with similar gunk using plain old WD-40. Keep up the great vids!

[@pumpauto]

could you show a video using the drill press, pencil eraeser and toth paste, i want to try this with my shotgun bolt, but dont want to spend money, thats just me ;) I never thought of using an eraser before.

[@PolytechNick]

Awesome instructional video! Just one question though: in your G-Code, why do you have to dwell with the rubber rod down for 5 seconds? At these RPMs you would think the pattern will be created in a split second (so to speak, short of saying "instantly") - did you experiment to come up with 5 seconds or did it just happen to be the first value that came to mind (happens to me a lot :) ). Thanks!

[@davewood406]

A x/y compound table would work nice for the drill press method to keep the pattern more regular. 130 bucks or so at Grizzly. Pretty sure I have seen one at Harbor Fright also.

[@Kicker700]

Funny thing, I was just thinking about this last night for a project of mine. Got me some new ideas. Thanks!

[@joshuagomez1190]

So I been wanting to jewl my titanium liner for my knife what would I use for titanium and it's a small piece

[@lindboknifeandtool]

I know this is 3 years old but the same principles apply. Keep the Ti liner perpendicular to the “bit”. I’ve jeweled titanium on my drill press with a very similar method.

[@jeffgrant4417]

Cratex

[@andregross7420]

What about a cross sled vise when using a drill press?

[@JF_Projects]

Great tut. tnx for sharing...

[@paultrace3021]

Simple technique, beautiful results.

[@adisharr]

Good tutorial as usual :)

[@SpytheGSD]

Awesome video

[@austin3538]

nice job

[@alvar0pere7]

Great vid.

[@openyoureyes1776]

Why would you ever use that paste? worst way to get the finish, risk the tools your using and a terrible clean up. Use a scuff pad on a press.