Help: Need a citation and some thoughts

Discussion of pipe restoration and sales, as well as pipe repair and maintenance tricks.
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DMI
Posts: 421
Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2009 8:48 pm
Location: Northern Ireland

Re: Help: Need a citation and some thoughts

Post by DMI »

Ok here's the story.

Six or seven years ago I was dealing with a guy in Chicago called Jim Campbell and on one occasion was moaning about having a load of stems to clean when he suggested this stuff which he had been using for years. After several hours on the internet it soon became apparent that this stuff was only available in the US of A, after a quick haggle we did a trade. I recently found one source for this in the UK, the price for a 16oz bottle including delivery is $35.

When I first used it I was amazed, several hours of very careful sanding was replaced by a quick dip and polish!

Image


Working With BW

Do not use on horn stems- they swell up and go all floppy!
Not recommended for Acrylic- some react badly.
Stems which have previously been bleached, you end up with a very badly pitted finish.
Metal fittings, polished aluminium tenons/stingers are ok for short periods (20mins) but any longer than that and either remove or cover them as they will oxidise unpredictably, dull alu corrodes quickly from the start. Steel fares much better but will corrode slowly.
Stem Inlays have a habit of falling out, more than once I've sieved for dots, for metal inlays add the above.
Every so often I come across really poor quality 'ebonite' which has an almost grainy appearance even when polished, using BW on these leaves a heavily pitted surface with zillions of little white/grey dots. One of the worst culprits for this is the Lorenzo Spitfire range.

Step 1
Pre clean the inside of the stem(s).
Tape up metal bits.
Place the stems in a glass container preferably with a lid then pour BW in until all stems are covered.
Place in cool dark place and go have a coffee or three.

Step 2

PUT GLOVES ON

Depending on the degree of oxidation and the quality of the material it takes from 20 mins to several hours for the BW to work, I once left a batch to soak for four days with no apparent deterioration.
Light oxidation can be wiped off with a cloth and some Barkeepers Friend after 20 mins or so and a quick polish does the job.
Medium Oxidation soak for 4 hours or so wipe with a cloth and then buff with white on a medium wheel.
Heavy Oxidation soak for 8 hours or so wipe and allow to dry, brown trip on a loose stitch (2 rows unpicked) then as per. If the stem requires a second treatment clean it with alcohol to remove all wax etc. Immediately in front of the button may require a touch of emery.

Get some and try it.

To those of you not involved in restoration the importance of a product like this may not seem apparent but to those of us to whom the loss of a logo or the softening of lines through sanding means lost money can be a little more fervent about it.
LatakiaLover
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Location: Kansas City, USA
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Re: Help: Need a citation and some thoughts

Post by LatakiaLover »

First off, props to you for coming through. :thumbsup:

Part of my brain refused to let go of the idea that you might just having a bit of, "Ha! Made ya look!" fun with us. That you weren't is a channel marker of character in my book. Well done, sir, and much appreciated.

I did a bit of digging to find exactly what's in it:

Water
Isopropyl Alcohol
Linear Alkylaryl Sulfonate
Sodium Silicates
2-Butoxyethanol

(Here's a link to the source: http://www.multi-craft.net/wp/wp-conten ... E-WITE.pdf )

Linear Alky-Laryl Sulfonate is simply detergent. A surfactant. A strong one to be sure, but still just soap.

Sodium Silicate is waterglass. Scary to think about that stuff coating a stem, but in trace quantities probably has insignificant effects.

2-Butoxyethanol is an average-strength solvent, and moderate surfactant in its own right. Commonly found in everything from paint and household cleaners to leather dressings and inks.

No need to discuss denatured alcohol and water.


If I had to guess, I'd speculate that the "recipe" formulation leverages cleaning action by combining solvent and detergent, and leaves a residual shine with the waterglass.

There's no bleach involved anywhere, apparently.

Why---or how---oxidized (green) hard rubber is made black again is a complete mystery. Truly superficial "greening" might be loose enough to simply be seen as dirt by the solvent/detergent combination, and lifted off. Any resulting unevenness in the surface wouldn't be addressed, though.

What is 100% certain is that oxidized material is not re-polymerized into new, fresh rubber.

I'm definitely going to experiment with the stuff and see what it can and can't do to my own satisfaction. My main concerns are long-term appearance change (swirls emerging, maybe, or the entire stem slowing turning an odd color later); possible brittleness induced by solvent immersion; and the whole "crapshoot" feel that goes with surrendering control. You never know the vulcanite formulation that was used by a stem's maker, so experience with its use is of limited value---things like soak time, dilution, temperature, and so forth must be guessed at each time.

Anyway, thanks again for delivering, DMI, and all the best to ya. :D
UFOs must be real. There's no other explanation for cats.
User avatar
DMI
Posts: 421
Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2009 8:48 pm
Location: Northern Ireland

Re: Help: Need a citation and some thoughts

Post by DMI »

From my own pipes that have been treated with this I can safely say that long term there are no visible problems, I'm a bit of a biter but haven't noticed any increased cracking.

I would not have thought that anything is left on the stem after polishing etc.

I have tried several other tyre cleaners and none work as well as the BW.

I was serious about the enzyme as well.

David.


Sent from my PC using 2 fingers.
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