Have We Determined How To Unblacken Aluminum?

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Yes! We have.

At least, others have and I have learned from them.

 

I collect and use pressure cookers. Have a personal weakness for the Presto/National cast aluminium pressure pans from the late '40s and the early stainless steel cookers. The ones with the springs, just like the 'modern' European style.

 

Obviously, I rarely get them in anything but post-dishwasher shape.

 

Here's what works for me:

1) Since I'm going to be cleaning thoroughly, I don't worry about using steel-wool cleaning pads. Get some (the dollar store blue soaped ones are fine) and scrub away for a few minutes. Rinse thoroughly.

2) Pick up one of those polishing kits for various metals at The Homeless Despot or Habor Fright - they have a black stick, a red stick and a white stick as well as two or three polishing wheels and arbor for your drill.

3) Clamp the drill into place, load on wheel with a fair amount of olive oil (the cheaper in this case, the more acidic, the better) then rub the black stick onto the wheel, not the pressure cooker. Using gentle pressure, rub the entire surface over the wheel. This will take a few minutes to cover everything, with frequent stops to reload the wheel.

Wipe the mixture of oxidation, black polish and oil off with an absorbent cloth then clean well with either window cleaner or DAWN hand dishsoap and lots of water or WD-40. All of these work well.

If you've removed the tarnish, go to the next stick, the red one and continue the same way, using a clean wheel. If not, repeat the process.

You'll probably need twice the time with the red stick and oil.

If the finish is now nearly right, switch to Mother's Mag and Alu polish to finish up. If it's not quite there, yet, another run with the red polish will do it.

The white polishing compound is really good for Bakelite handles which your pot won't have.

 

I've done this over the years on over 30 pressure pans/stove-top espresso cookers* and always been happy with the results.

 

Oh, the ads about 'sapphire' finishes are true - look up aluminium oxide under precious jewels some time. Deceptive, but true.

 

As to the whole Alzheimer's nonsense, it's just that - one will absorb far more aluminium with medications and food than through aluminium cookware, first. Second, there is now and never was a link between the aluminium salt deposits in the brains of those with the disease and consumption of the metal.

 

*Yes, I know. It's not really espresso, etc.
 
Keven, I know you have your doubts about a possible link between Alzheimers and aluminum but bear in mind there is a powerful lobby behind aluminium maybe even more powerful than the tobacco lobby ever was.

If it was so harmless as we`ve been told all the time why would possible brain damage or dementia be listed on the side effects of current aluminium containing antacids ? (At 31:49)

There`s a great documentary "The Age of Aluminium" which has changed my view on the subject. I know most of the intake is via food so it`s nearly impossible to avoid, but why take an extra risk through cook ware antiperspirants and so on ?

 
That was a bit harsh, sorry.

I've been down the whole 'Alu' ist des Teufels discussion throughout the '70s and '80s and '90s and this century with German friends and relations and it's just pure nonsense.

Still, I shouldn't have been so harsh.
 
How about we discuss a bit of the actual data?

Here's the problem with the patients that ended up in the "aluminum may cause Alzheimer's" paper -- all the patients had been scanned using a CAT scan, if I remember right. One of the disadvantages of X-rays is that it tends to need a "contrast" which is usually injected into the patient's veins. And every single one of those patients had a contrast that included Aluminum in its ingredients, which, of course, were present a short time later when the patients died and had their brains examined during the autopsies.

So, at best, we can't use *those* "studies" to claim Aluminum causes the problems.

We'll need to start over and study people who never had been injected with such contrasts, or do trials to find out how long contrasts linger in one's brain etc.

One of the things that irks me about the current relationship between medical research and the media is just how *clueless* the media can be even when given precise data.

Around 1996 or so, some folks at Harvard published a paper where they explained that some evidence was surfacing that for liposoluble vitamins, one is much better off getting them in the form of milk, fats etc than in pills. That was it, for a full two days, you could just not turn on the TV on any channel without reporters talking about how Harvard scientists had said that X, where X varied by station, reporter and time, and they listed everything from "you need to eat some fats", to "you need two tablespoons of mayonnaise per day" passing thru "drinking milk", "eating some/1/2/4 tablespoons of butter per day/week" etc. In other words, some read the report and talked as close to it as they could, but most reporters just made the statement sound as outrageous as possible for their expected audience.

And no, I don't use aluminum cookware if I can avoid it. I am not afraid of it, I just like to put as much as possible in the dishwasher and if I reach my goal of *nothing* is hand washed in that meal, I am happy. Sure, some people are happy with how Aluminum pots and pans come off the dishwasher, I am not and I don't have time to polish everything either.

Cheers,
   -- Paulo.

PS: I can't tell you how horrified and pissed off the Harvard researchers were at how their study about vitamins was reported by the media. Me, I was surprised they were not used to it, it happens all the time.
 
It's the same in Germany

The local group of the Greens met in my apartment kitchen for a few years in Munich. They all smoked. All.Of.Them.

I insisted they put out their cigarettes (hand rolled, of course) outside before they came in.

Me, they'd lecture on how evil I was for having  a dishwasher and a clothes tumbler (dryer) and, gasp! I actually slept under an electric blanket!

But they all smoked cigarettes like factory chimneys. All.

 

As to the whole Alumnium causes dementia nonsense, that one falls into the same category as sugar causes fungi in the body, silicium must be avoided because it's useless to the body and dihydrogen monoxide is poisonous category.

 

Nonsense, all of it. From beginning to end.

 

 
 
A little subject drift...

From time to time I've wondered why no detergent manufacturer has ever come out with an "aluminum safe" dishwasher detergent.  I'd buy a box for the times I'd love to toss some cookie sheets, or pots and pans in the dishwasher.
 
That's what I don't understand, aluminium survived in the dishwasher when I was a kid. My mother and grandmother both had aluminium sunbeam electric fry pans and ran them in the dishwasher for years. At some point even with chlorine, something changed and they'd go black in one wash.

I'd love to know exactly what did change.
 
Don`t worry, it`s your opinion and it wasn`t harsh at all.
The consensus of the documentary was that it has never been proven that aluminium causes Alzheimers but the opposite has never been proven as well.

What cannot be denied is that aluminium is a neurotoxin and when fish will die from the smallish amounts of aluminium dissolved from the earth crust by acid rain or when cattle dies after a drinking water incident in England I`m getting suspicious.
Paris for example no longer uses aluminium compounds to treat their city`s drinking water because there are safety concerns.
Aluminiumhydroxide is used to trigger all sorts of food allergies in animal research. So I try to avoid any excessive intake.

An aluminium safe dishwasher detergent probably isn`t going to happen because it would have to be pH neutral or slightly acidic I think. Not so good for cleaning backed on food residue effectively.
 
Stefan,

For the US version of English language dialogue, it was too harsh. But, thanks.

It's not really opinion, though - my opinion is that Angelika Merkel is a better Chancellor than Helmut Kohl.

(Nicht, dass ich jemals meine Stimme für die CDU/CSU abgeben wird).

 

But this is simply fact driven: The aluminium causes dementia stuff just has no basis in fact. Fresh water fish have other problems (largely driven by their very complex pressure gradient systems to keep the right degree of salinity in their bodies) which have nothing to do with high-order mammalian brains.

[this post was last edited: 6/22/2017-08:51]
 
I suppose that was one of those "nuances" in a language only a native speaker or someone who lived in that country for a long time can detect and that`s exactly what gets me into trouble so often.
But again no offense taken because I wouldn`t have noticed anyway.

I regret we haven`t met for a beer as you suggested when you were still living in Munich.
Wasn`t in the mood for any new friends back then. Sorry.

One more thing. I liked your old Samatha so much better. I know when you look closely she`s only resting her head on her hand, but still our lesbian friends might misunderstand the gesture ;-) [this post was last edited: 6/22/2017-10:54]
 
Hi Stefan,

It is a shame we missed each other - I had just finished restoring a table-top AEG clothes tumbler with electronic sensing from the early '80s! Can't even find it in their catalogues.

Anyway, the lesbians can just live with it - the symbol means 'witch's honour' and was a cue to Bewitched fans that I meant what I said on Dirty Laundry.

Might change it, though - I have a couple of Endorra pics which are great.

Hugs

Keven
 
I use aluminum

And stainless, as well as cast iron...My aluminum looks as good as new because I clean it WITH a BRILLO pad EVERY TIME and wash and dry the outside with soap and water, but yes, cream of tartar will take off the darkened layer, so will boiling a solution of borax, but if you really want it to look good inside, cook rhubarb in it..LOL
 
As for me, I have only one aluminum pan in service, and it's anodized, not plain aluminum. I cringe a bit at the thought of plain aluminum, but that may just be paranoia that got programmed in during some "aluminum pans may cause Alzheimer's!" scare in the 80s. But I probably cringe less than I did then. I think there were times when I actively promoted the suggestion that perhaps my mother should get rid of her Club aluminum. (Although for the most part, looking back, those pans weren't probably used enough leech much. They were used all the time, but it was mostly fast cooking/low acid foods.) But I still cringe enough that I don't have any interest in buying vintage aluminum pans to actually use. Too bad, because I do see Club pans from time to time, and they often have fun colors, and probably are pretty decent pans. Certainly better than rock bottom stainless steel, I'm betting.

 

Past this, though, I think my preference is getting stuff that is dishwasher safe. I don't have a dishwasher (sob), but when the day comes when i live someplace with a dishwasher, I want as many things to go through as possible. If I handwash it had better be something worth the pain. Such as a really high quality pan that gets used when I'm ambitious in the kitchen. A really good knife. Or maybe something that's fun vintage that gets used "sometimes" when I'm in the mood. Otherwise, I want stuff day to day to be able to go into a dishwasher and survive with no drama.
 
The only aluminum pot I have is my grandmother's old Mirromatic pressure cooker and I only cook things on a steamer rack in it so the aluminum alzheimer's issue is not an issue.  It has been through the dishwasher so many times it ain't even funny.
 
My aunts cooked

with Magnaware aluminum from the 1950's. They both got the alkheimers as they would say. Their husbands died before they got it from other ailments.
 
Dishwasher Detergent and Aluminium

I have found that it varies depending on the detergent.

Old style metasilicate dishwasher powder detergent with its chlorine bleach (Finish and Sun) caused aluminium pots and pans to turn grey and rough to the touch.

Newer biological formulations with enzymes and oxygen bleach seem to still cause roughness of the surface, but the metal turns whiter and/or shinier.

I suppose some of the answer will be to do with pH levels.
I remember my mum stewed rhubarb in an aluminium pot. The pot came out looking brand new. Down to the acid, I suspect.

The old chlorine detergents were strongly alkaline, thus causing the greyness. The newer bio-oxy formulations probably cause the wash solution to become more acidic, hence the shiny/white.
 

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