Originally Posted by
Old Fat Guy
Most of that glue looks like it would just flake off. A wire brush (brass) is helpful. There's no sense in getting carried away with removal, you don't need a claen surface to glue.
To remove anodizing, use EZ Off oven cleaner, not the new 'eco friendly' stuff, but the old fashioned stuff that has lye, or any off brand that contains mostly lye. Be careful, especially with your eyes. I end up with a finer grit paper, more like 1000 wet, and then to the buffing wheel after that.
Good advice from a master here:
http://www.raydobbins.com/polishing/
Thanks for the tip. I have tried my brass cleaning brush and it does an OK job, but v. labor intensive. I did consider using the E.Off for the cranks, but funny story; So in 1989 I was a Sgt in the Marines and one of my guys decided to use Easy Off on his M16 and beat the system by cleaning it "real good" without effort. He left it on way too long, the EO ate several holes through the upper receiver, and I had to send him up to see "the Man." Left a real bad taste in my mouth for EO.
As it is I am using 320, then 600, then 1000 grit and that seems to work fairly well. The nooks and crannies of the drive side have me with cramped fingers.