Nice video on polishing Al from major corrosion to mirror smooth:
wire brush - sand blaster - 200 - wet 400 - wet 1000 - polish
YouTube
video: polishing aluminum
Moderators: robbosmans, Moderator Team
At my university, I can get some 2500 wet grit, it is so so nice to use, also 1 micron diamond polish gives the best mirror finish I know of. Source, I'm a materials science student and have to polish samples to make them suitable for microscopy haven't tried any old bike parts yet but I bet the microstructures would look pretty cool in some parts
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Awesome! Then you can do TEM on your crank arms, and impress everyone here (not sure how good sample prep is for the crank arms, though...)