ITO ALPHA OWNERS,how do you keep it shining?

[ThomasL]

For those with the japan daiwa ito alphas,do you use burmishing oil to buff yours or regular car polish to keep it looking new?

[Raul]

Alphas Itös have never shined even brand new and out of the box, the surface is polished aluminum and there will always be a slight coating of aluminum oxide covering the reel reason why it doesn 't shine like a mirror unless you polish it to mirror finish.

Polishing it with car polish is not a good idea, you will only cause scratches and swirls on the surface if not done with the proper tools  to bring it to mirror finish.

Now if I could only remember who posted the pics of a mirror polished Itö.......  :-/

[slomoe]

Jimzee  

[Jimzee]

Here you go dude. Brand new one is on the right, used one on the left. I use aluminum polish with a high speed Dremel tool with a polishing head.

I have to warn you ahead of time, take the reel completely apart down to every last screw. You don't want this stuff getting into your bearings. Plan to take about 4-6 hours out of your schedule for this job.

[Redlinerobert]

I suppose if you want to keep it shiny you could have it sprayed in a clear coat after the buffing.  

I like the tarnished look of mine though, I think it adds charachter.

[burleytog]

Those reels are begging to be anodized pink.

[ThomasL]

Jimzee do i pay you by the hour to do mine!Or just sell it and buy one of those purty purple alphas!

[Jimzee]

It's not that hard to do. Make sure you have your reel schematics and use the proper tools to disassemble the reel. BTW, purple Alphas's aren't bad either, I have a couple of those too.  Well technically, the wife claims one of them. :-/

[cart7t]

The Delorean of fishing reels.