Alloy corrosion

[happykamper]

Is there any way to remove alloy corrosion? The Spade is showing some signs of age and I want to know if there is any easy way to sharpen her up a bit. Cheers.

[FROSTY:Me]

Elbow grease and 2000 grit sandpaper.
Lots of elbow grease and use the paper wet

[Les]

Make sure you use aluminium-oxide abrasive paper! Using the black silicon-carbide stuff will make it more likely to corrode further down the track (dissimilar metals, etc.). Silicon-carbide (sometimes called wet & dry) is meant for ferrous alloys like steel. You could also use some ScotchBrite or similar soaked in a solvent like isopropyl alcohol. This should deal to it okay if it's not too badly pitted. If it's pitted then aluminium-oxide grit blasting is the only way to go if you don't want to grind the corroded material away, ie. blend it out.

[Owl]

First you need to ascertain what you’re dealing with! A lot of alloy parts are clear-coated, so you need to find that out before you do anything. Get some metal polish, cutting compound or even jiff (if you’re tight) and rub a bit of the alloy with a cloth. If the cloth turns black, it’s bare alloy and if there’s no change, it’s clear-coated.
Find that out and I’ll post more and what parts are corroded?