Originally Posted by hockeyteeth
I wanted to polish some aluminum parts recently but was told they were not anodized, even though they look exactly like the stem Jol used. I was instructed to buff them with Scotch-Brite (Scotch-Brite is the green abrasive surface on the back of a kitchen sponge) and then polish them with Aluminum polish. Well, the Scotch-Brite totally ****ed up the finish on the parts and the Al polish barely did anything. They all just look like brushed aluminum now and I'm super-pissed. Later, I tried polishing an area I hadn't used Scotch-Brite on and it was reflective as a mirror after some polishing... WTF?!
I guess my question is: How does the oven cleaner not destroy the finish under the anodization? And do you think I should try the oven cleaner method first and then polish them up again?
the aluminum polish is actually removing the aluminum oxide from the surface. aluminum oxidizes fairly readily which is what gives it the dull finish that is typical of older aluminum parts. oven cleaner is a basic (KOH or NaOH) compound that will dissolve the oxide layer and leave you with a clean Al surface then a slight buff to make it shine and youre all good.
there is no finish under the anodization that is bare aluminum....anodiaztion is basically a controlled oxidation that sometimes you can add colors into...the oven cleaner will remove all that and leave you with bare metal
this is my understanding of the system, but i may not be 100% correct...probably close enough