Hand Tools Archive
David Weaver
There was a time that it wasn't as easy to find autosol in the states. I got simichrome with a banjo years ago and had an english friend who brought ten tubes of autosol with him every time he came back from europe. It was like getting a fine bottle of port from someone the way he treated them "everything else his s__t....this is what you need".
When it became available easily through e-commerce, it was like someone stole one of his trade secrets.
The inability to avoid checking everything that I have around to see what it does has led me to do far more with it sharpening than I ever did polishing (friend used it for his motorcycles).
Just about everything now is alumina except for certain specialty polishing products. If a product says it will polish steel and chrome to a scratch free surface, it'll be good for polishing the edges of tools to a shine. If it says it's good for a bright polish on steel, brass and chrome, same, but it might be even finer graded alumina.
never tried the polish you mentioned, but have used a few car wheel polishes only to find out they're mostly grease with not much abrasive in them.