Thanks for the kind words! We had some panels bead blasted when we went to this new approach of getting the panels raw from the laser cutter rather than sending them to a grainer. While the panel was getting blasted I had the idea to try brushing one. Side by side the brushed panel looked way more interesting than the blasted one, so I decided to go with it. It's not difficult to do, except that it's the kind of thing where if two people each do a panel the pattern will probably look rather different. That is why I have been doing all of the panels myself so far. At some point I will train others to emulate the pattern I have come up with. The base pattern of the first 45 degree pass is easy, you just make sure the rotating brush stays at 45 degrees to the edges of the panel and that coverage is thorough and even. The second pass at 90 degrees rotation is where the art comes into play. Helps to have some funky shit on the headphones so you can wiggle your ass a bit while you "dance" the brush randomly over the surface.
Usual caveats apply - clamp the panel down securely, wear ear and eye protection and a respirator - you don't want to breathe aluminum dust. I clamp at two opposite corners, do all the panel except the two corners, then take one clamp off, carefully touch up one corner, repeat on the other corner while holding the panel firmly against the work surface. Be careful with the brush as it wants to catch the panel edge when it rotates into it. If you screw up you can do over, but if you keep grinding away at a spot you will start to create an uneven look.
