![]() Of course, you can always send it to a metal finishing shop and let the pros do it :) Sorry for the long response but I like to educate :) You might be able to get the bare aluminum look (as opposed to the white above) if you polish the part again but usually it won't become bright and shiny again. You CANNOT re-anodize a part unless all the coating has been stripped off. If not, there is still coating on it and you have to strip it more. If the light turns on, there is current flowing to the part and all the anodizing has been removed. With the continuity meter clipped to the other metal, touch the tip of the meter to the part. Attach the part you're checking to something conductive like steel or copper or maybe a piece of aluminum foil (make sure they are both touching). A continuity meter checks if there is an electrical current flowing through objects. This means it does not conduct electricity. The aluminum oxide of the anodized layer is an insulator. If you want to remove all of the anodize layer, youre going to have to get a continuity meter/tester. Just wash off with PLENTY of water and dry it. Once all the color is gone, if you just wanted to get rid of the color, you're done. You probably won't need to scrub if the drain cleaner is strong enough, plus that could cause the chemical to splash and you don't want that. When immersed, the part will bubble vigorously. **CAUTION! THEY ARE VERY NASTY AND CAUSE BURNS!!** Be EXTREMELY careful when handling these chemicals. Drain cleaners have sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) and/or potassium hydroxide. That out of the way, if you still want to remove the anodize, the best way is to use a drain cleaner of some sort. If the knife manufacturer said the sheath is "hard anodized" they are either lying or the coating is so thin, that its abrasion resistance will be the same as regular type II anodizing. Most of the parts we do here that are hard anodized will only accept a black color. Another issue is that hard anodizing produces smaller pores (look it up) that makes it very difficult to accept a dye color. Depending on the alloy it will be dark brown or dark grey. Hard anodized coating will come out very dark. 5) From your pictures and notes you said it was "HAIII" which means it was Type III anodized or "hard anodized." Hard anodizing produces a harder more abrasion resistant coating than Type II anodizing ("regular" anodizing) but from looking at your pictures, the original sheath doesn't look hard anodized. Also, the sheath might not fit correctly and will cause the knife blade to be exposed to the environment which will cause the knife blade to corrode. If the hardware attaching the knife is too loose (because you stripped the anodize) your knife blade might fall off when using it. The manufacturer designs the part with a very high tolerance (like within 0.0002") to make sure everything fits correctly. ![]() 4) The sheath not fitting correctly and the hardware attaching the knife to the sheath not fitting correctly. Removing the anodizing changes its dimensions by making it smaller and then you will get other problems like. The manufacturer does this on purpose because they know that anodizing will increase the thickness of the part evenly on all surfaces. When you anodize a part, the bare part will be a little smaller dimensionally before it gets anodized. 3) Stripping the anodize will also cause the material to change dimensions. 2) Bare aluminum will protect itself from the environment by forming a very thin layer of aluminum oxide (which is the same component of an anodized surface) but that will hardly protect itself from corrosion. If you don't like the color, why don't you buy a knife with the color you want? or without color? You can get anodized Items without a color and have them still be protected. Without the coating, aluminum will corrode over time (white splotchy appearance) and will ruin the whole purpose of the item being used. 1) why would you want to take the anodize off? Anodizing protects aluminum from corrosion. I'd like to shed some light on this process but I would pose some questions and information first. Hello, I am a chemist that works in a metal finishing shop and we anodize parts for aerospace and the military.
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