Removing Anodizing - Oven Cleaner

gt-arrowhead

Hi, i have got myself a project going - polishing up a retro GT frame to a mirror finish, and a fork with the same finish. I have finished my frame and it is ready to go, and i have now moved on to the fork. The fork is anodized however, and i need to get it all off obviously before i can start the polishing process. I could go ahead and sandpaper it all off, but it will be quite time consuming, and it will be difficult to get in around the welds. And i want to try and avoid sandpapering as the aluminium is immaculate, and i dont want to put any scratches in it using an aggressive grade of sandpaper. Im hoping to get the anodizing off, giving it a once over with 2000 grit sandpaper and going ahead with polishing.

The fork was previously wrapped in vinyl, and i was pretty luck that the majority of the anodizing somehow managed to get pulled off as i removed the vinyl. But not quite lucky enough to get all of it off.

I have done some research and after reading in many places that oven cleaner would do the trick, ive bought myself some of it.

But im not quite sure about how i should go about using it to try and get the anodizing off. Do i follow the instructions, or do i use a slightly different method? Hoping someone may have done this before and can help me out with this.

Heres my fork:



And here is my Oven Cleaner instructions:

cooldad

TKIceman?

But I'd listen to Rampage. He's a bit of an anodising boffin.

gt-arrowhead

Yep, (Im a Kimi Raikkonen fan)

I cant believe i never realised that anodizing is chemically bonded to the aluminium and cannot be pulled off, like he said. That is so obvious. Ive completely stripped down and polished anodized cranks and it still didnt click with me that the finish on the forks isnt anodising. Quite stupid of me. But i have an anodised seatpost, so ill use the cleaner on there anyway. And possibly a stem.

nicklouse

You know what anodizing is?

Just a means of making the oxidisation of the aluminium coloured.

Remove it and it will just oxidise again. But Whiteish this time.

gt-arrowhead

It will oxidise, but after ive finished polishing to a shine, ill have to either use some sort of product to protect it from oxidising, or just polish it fairly regularly to keep it shiny.

pesky_jones

GT-Arrowhead wrote:

or just polish it fairly regularly to keep it shiny.

correcy

pesky_jones

I was going to edit that, but I like the irony.

Man Of Lard

Oven cleaner (caustic soda) will dissolve aluminium...

Side note - that anodising looks more like poorly adhered silver paint from the way it has flaked and scratched off.

gt-arrowhead

Man Of Lard wrote:

Oven cleaner (caustic soda) will dissolve aluminium...

Side note - that anodising looks more like poorly adhered silver paint from the way it has flaked and scratched off.

Yep, you are correct, it is silver paint. Im sure it will dissolve it if you left it long enough.

Pesky Jones wrote:

I was going to edit that, but I like the irony.

Well i did the anodising stripping today. The results were truely fantastic. Took next to no time at all. That Oven Pride is some good stuff.

I got a bit on the bottom of my forearm when i was reaching into the bucket to scrub it on. Didnt really think anything of it at first, but then i started feeling the burning sensation, and i looked down and the bits of hair on my arm had gone all curly and dodgey. I ripped off the gloves and ran into the bath and rinsed my arm off. A bald patch along with some red dots forming on my skin were revealed My skin is totally fine now. Only lasted for 10 minutes or so. Really pissed off with myself though, as i forgot to throw in my seat clamp before i started, and only remembered after i had disposed of all the oven cleaner :x

I used the paint stripper to get the paint off the forks. Worked a treat as the paint was of a poor quality. Ive tried polishing the fork straight away, but its going to need some sandpapering as there are still the normal scratches on the surface from when it was machined. Same with the seatpost, but im going to be keeping sandpapering on that to a bare minimum as i dont want to change the diameter of it. And i never bothered with my stem, as it has a really rough surface.

Another wet sanding session in the cold this weekend it is i then :roll: