When you think of engine turning, do thoughts of a Smokey and the Bandit Pontiac Firebird dashboard pop into your head? Well, it does in ours. If you don't know what engine turning is, it's when you take a small grinding head and put little scratch circles in an even pattern onto a piece of medium, usually aluminum. This was a big thing back in the '70s, and we are seeing a slight take-off of that today, with ground metal. We have all seen it, a piece of aluminum sheet that has been ground and then coated with a candy paint. Back in our paint and body issue, we had a very unique S-10 blazer built by Mark Remling of Blasted, which featured some of the best ground metal panels we have ever seen. When we shot his truck, we inquired about how to do that and wanted some pictures. Lucky for us, Mark took some photos while he worked on one of the panels, and we sweet-talked him into giving us the pictures and his notes. So, follow along, as Mark lays down the dos and don'ts of this type of graphic element, in his own words.
First, I remove the protective vinyl from the 1/8-inch 6061 aluminum that I have cut to the shape of the window that I will be putting it over. | 
Next, I start to etch the metal with an extra-fine pad. After completing a full set of etches, I change the pad to a fine pad and do another set of grindings. By doing this, I am building up depth in the grindings, even before any paint is laid down. | 
Then, a light coat of House of Kolor's (HOK) AP-01 adhesion promoter is laid down. This is the only way to make sure the Kandy will stick to the aluminum. After, I lay down three coats of HOK's Oriental Blue Kandy, since this will never see the sun. If it did, I would have to put at least five coats of Kandy. |