"Michael Coslo" wrote in message
...
tk5ep Patrick Egloff wrote:

Thanks for your suggestion.
I'm surprised to receive so few answers to a problem that seemed very
trivial to me...
You can get dozens of answers for a patent problem but only one to a
daily problem that every ham has encountered at least once in his life



Well, its pretty hard to improve on John's method. 8^)

In the interest of furthering the conversation, it might turn to what to
do about that corrosion and general poor looks of the aluminum at present

Some folks advise using steel wool to remove the surface tarnish, others
caution that particles of steel will embed themselves in the tubing and
cause rust.

There is brass wool that would negate that, as well as Stainless or copper
wool.


Those 3M 'Scotchbrite' pads work well too. There's a surface treatment that
used to be known as 'alochrome' (or similar spelling) in the UK that does
wonderful things to aluminium alloy surfaces - it's just a dip (but its
probably a combination of substances prohibited by the HSE nowadays).

Chris