Anodizing is primarily intended to provide some corrosion protection to aluminum. It also hardens the surface somewhat but that is really a side effect. As you know, after you have polished the aluminum it does not stay that way but will require periodic repolishing to remove oxidation and restore the shine.
Try soking the part for a few minutes in a lye based drain cleaner...the anodizing will be very easy to remove then!
Paul Raley
Leonardtown MD
Bianca Pratorius <biankita@earthlink.net> wrote:
>In the past I have sometimes restored an aluminum part to a healthy
>shine by removing the anodizing first with 220 wet dry paper. Next I go
>to 400 then 600 then 1200 then 3m compound. I haven't seen an negative
>effect to doing this yet. You can even get a satin finish by not using
>the compound as a last step. This begs the question... What is the
>disadvantage of doing this other than making an original part,
>unoriginal? What was the original advantage of putting an anodized
>layer on in the first place. I have found that a horribly scratched
>seatpost or stem or brake lever is completely usable and attractive
>after a 30 minute process.
>
>Garth Libre in Miami Shores Fl.
>
>_______________________________________________
>
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