Date:	9-8-2011
Number of Hours:	1.60
Brief Description:	First Polish Attempt
Well, it's been awhile. I've *thought* of Sonex over the past week if that's any consolation. Went to Kansas for a week to kick off the 2011 K-State football season. Good times. Came back, and well, no excuses; just didn't get much done. Was busy, just not with airplane stuff. Since I'm at the point where just about all is complete until the wings are re-rigged (supposed to be this coming Saturday!), I decided to try out the buffing supplies I purchased at AirVenture. There are 3 grades of compounds recommended for use with the Sonex-supplied 6061-T6 alloy: F9, the coarsest cut, then C, a mid-grade product, followed by S, the final polish for that show-quality shine. I did not purchase "S" at the show, since I figured it would be some time before I'd be ready for it. After today, I'm not sure. This went much better than I thought it would. I first applied one pass of F9. Wow. Impressed after the first pass! Followed that with another pass of F9. Even better! I decided to swap out buffer bonnets and try some "C" grade. Even better! Applied two coats of that. I then decided to do a second panel. the results of two passes of F9 followed by two passes of C are shown in pic 3 below. Better than I would have imagined! Not show quality yet, but much, much better than I would have imagined! As a side note, this stuff gets all over. I was in shorts and a t-shirt. My hands were covered in black, as were my arms and legs. At first, it didn't seem like it - then you noticed after closer examination. It came off the skin just fine using GoJo, but the next session I'll wear gloves and some old sweatpants! Also, if you're curious, I used a $29 Harbor Freight buffer for these passes. A good orbital polisher is recommended for the S pass.