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There is a product on the market called "Stainless Steel Scratch-B-Gone." I've never used it, but it might be worth a shot.

Anodized aluminum containers like these are very vulnerable to scratches - outside of taking them to a professional to be resurfaced (a process similar to having the disc brakes on your car resurfaced) there really isn't much that can be done manually.

wooo .. hot! I'm totally jealous. Please post again if you do get them fixed up ... I'd love to see how they come out!

The exact same set has been sitting on my family's kitchen counter for 35 years, taking up space and unused. Amazing how someone's "retro chic" is someone else's "old crap."

I toured a factory where my friend worked once where they made brushed aluminum bodies for cars (old Shelby Cobras). I guess it involved, as suggested, that steel wool or, in their case, I think it was some kind of sand paper. Having studied Engineering in school, I think there's also may be a caveat as far as using steel wool because the steel particles may embed themselves in the aluminum and then rust when exposed to water for a long time. I think the real trick is going to be to get the brushed look to look good, and the lines parallel. When they were formed originally, I'm pretty much certain they were "spin-formed" on a lathe-like machine, and so it would have been easy for the operator to just use some abrasive to make the brushed look. I'd suggest trying to attach them to some kind of rotating surface (lazy susan?) or something, and then do a kind of lathe-sand-action something to re-do the surface. Good luck!

P.S. I don't think those containers were anodized, it could just be the picture, but I wouldn't worry about removing any protective layer or something. Just make sure you wash them well after refinishing...

i have the same ones. think i got them at an estate sale forever ago. mine have scratches, and i just let them be that way.

all you need is a scotch-brite pad. you can find 'em at homedepot. they're a dark green color and they feel kinda like a sponge. you'll find 'em with the sand paper and steel wool in the paint section.

it'll take a little bit of elbow grease but you can get something that looks good. also, feel free to get the scotch brite pads wet to wash away the particles while you're working. to get the perfectly parallel lines, you should put it up on a lathe, kinda like what davidC said, but it's not nearly as bad as bepsf thinks it is.

good luck with it and while you're at it, if you have a stainless steel sink, give the sink a rubdown with the pads as well. you'll probably like the results.

How about getting scratches off your laptop computer's metal surface?

The idea of taking a scotch brite pad to an aluminum surface makes my hair stand on end. It's a thousand times worse than fingernails on a chalkboard... just me? OK, I'll just don some earplugs as you work away...