Shopsmith Forums

So what's being used to restore aluminium meaning the handles and protect it. Remove oxidation

Unlike red iron oxide (rust) layer that forms on steel, which is porous and gets worse with time. The thin layer of aluminum oxide that forms on aluminum seals the air out and is self limiting, except in damp conditions .

Interesting note about the passivating layer of aluminum oxide that Ron pointed out, you've never seen bare aluminum metal unless it was inside a glass container filled with an inert gas. Bare aluminum oxidizes in the presence of oxygen in just microseconds. And that reaction is one of the most energetic chemical reactions there is as seen in it's application as thermite that readily melts steel. Luckily the oxide is self limiting as Ron said, in normal conditions the oxide quickly coats the metal and blocks external oxygen to stop the reaction.