Removing Anodizing From Aluminum Quickly and Easily.

I dislike the color of many anodized parts and tools, and I love the look of bare aluminum. Fortunately, it's easy to remove the anodized coating from most things.

I first heard about this here, but I found their instructions lacking.

The pictures below show what we want -- and what we have.

Step 1: Materials.

You need:

1. Some Greased Lightning Cleaner.
2. A plastic dish of some kind.
3. A brush.
4. Something with a coating that you just can't stand. I had a new folding knife which was a particularly nasty shade of olive drab.

Step 2: Go!

If necessary, disassemble your knife/tool/object. You don't want to expose anything but the aluminum to the cleaner, if you can help it.

Remove the spray cap of your Greased Lightning.

Put your parts in your dish.

Pour some Greased Lightning in there!

Step 3: Scrub Time.

Scrub the parts with your brush.

Constantly agitate the solution.

Depending on the thickness of the anodizing, it may take a little while. My knife was HAIII -- which means that it has a thick layer of anodizing. It took about 15 minutes to get it totally clean.

Step 4: Admire Your Clean and Beautiful Parts.

Remove your parts from the solution using a tweezers or hook. Run it under cold water until there are no more suds. Pat dry with a towel or paper towel.

Look at your clean, non-ugly parts. Great!

Oh bother. Now you have to put the thing back together.

Step 5: The Final Finish

After reassembly (obviously only applicable if you first disassembled your object), check that everything works.

I think this thing is dead sexy in white. And after almost a year of carrying, it still looks great.