The only aluminum one I've ever had was one from the older Knight and Hale series. It works ok but not as good as my slate ones. I can make the slate work like a charm but for some reason I can't get the hang of the aluminum. My striker just wants to slide over the aluminum and not sound right. It acts like the aluminum is too slick and I need to rough it up but don't know how to do that.
I'll have to try one of these custom ones and see how they work for me.