I am sure there will be those who disagree with what I have to say regarding this matter but I have taken the finish off at least 50 guns or more during my lifetime, which you have thought of doing(down to the aluminum) polished them with a dremel and a very fine buffing compound and never had a problem with any of these in 50 Years or more.I had this idea when Model 39's first came out and I bought one very badly scratched and worn. After stripping the frame, I went ahead and sanded it down until all the frame was bare. I then polished it using very fine compounds until it was as bright as nickel. Then I started on the slide using the same approach until it was like polished nickel. Since I only had $35.00 invested in this pistol (this was in the late fifties, I set it aside for a couple of months until one winter I decided to take it into the wilds and try it out. I was amazed to find out that it never rusted even the frame and slide were in the white as they say. Being curious about this, I talked to some rather famous gunsmiths about the situation and was told that because of the polishing I had done and the waxing also. it would stay this way, unrusted for some time. One of the men, Jeff Cooper stated that he had done this same thing on his Colt Commander with the light weight frame as the anodizing started to peel and he decided to just take it off.
Anyway, I have since done this many times for myself as well as others in the last 50 years and have never had even one complaint from any customers that I did it for. I know it has worked for me but others might disagree and that is fine. I know it works

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joseph whitney