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!
I would not be using this for cooking
because possibly a thermal coating was removed and there is paint underneath which is coming off or reacting to things that are coming into contact with it
It sounds like there wasn’t an extra coating that I removed, but that I just etched the fired coating, making it dull rather than glossy – so it’s the same outer coating that existed, it’s just not glossy anymore. In theory, it’s still as food-safe as it was, but it’s porous now (it kinda feels like silicone).
Google around for restoration services, I’m in south America so I’m no use to you but my sister had a couple of grandma’s pots restored. They basically sand blast them and re powder coat them
I wonder if a silicone oil could get some shine back as a last resort
You could spray it with clearcoat. No idea how that reacts to heat though.
Rubbing compound? Obviously wash it thoroughly but standard polishing methods for powder coated surfaces should work.
Oh, like the kind for cars?
That’s a great idea, thanks! If it works, I can send it through the dishwasher a dozen times and it should be fine, right? It’s the outer coating and I don’t plan to lick it much.
Thanks for the suggestion!
If it’s already showing signs of rust, I would think twice about putting it through the dishwasher
