Ash pan coating?

[Rub]

I'm working on cleaning up the ash pan on a 26" thumbscrew I have. It looks like it was coated with something from the factory and even has a wood grain pattern to it. It's keeping the pan from shining so I hit it with some 0000 and that barely scuffed it. Now I'm stuck with it partially off and looking like crap. I guess I've got to get down to bare aluminum now to make it look decent. Anyone seen this before? Here's a pic that sort of shows it.


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[harris92]

I have three ash pans from the early 1960's that have porcelain coating.  Maybe the remains of the porcelain?

[Rub]

I have three ash pans from the early 1960's that have porcelain coating.  Maybe the remains of the porcelain?

I think this one is a 64 at the earliest. Too new? I'm not sure what it is...

[swamprb]

While researching Aluminum PK Grills restorations someone with metallurgical knowledge advised against using steel wool and steel wire wheel brushes to the finish. It was contrary to what I'd been doing in the past, but I heeded the advice on my PK resto's and use Poly wire cup and wheel brushes (and 3M Abrasive discs on heavy corrosion)