cleaning bronze parts

yorklyn · Post by **yorklyn** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 12:00 pm

Does anyone have a suggestion for cleaning various parts like sea strainers/seacocks, shaft stuffing boxes and struts. I have accumliated a pile of greenish parts doing my renovation and want to find an effective way to clean and polish everything up before reinstalling. Im thinking about buying a sand blast cabinet from harbor freight and using baking soda or crushed walnunts as a blasting media. any suggestions?

jefflaw35 · Post by **jefflaw35** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 12:11 pm

bleave it or not i use beach sand in mine, its free, but soda is good

alexander38 · Post by **alexander38** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 12:27 pm

are you wanting to get all the green off of them, or are you dealing with paint to ?

yorklyn · Post by **yorklyn** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 3:47 pm

Just trying to clean and brighten everything up before I re install it. alittle paint on the struts but not much. I thought of using a bench grinder with a brass brush but thought blasting might do a better job. I just dont want to get too aggressive

Big D · Post by **Big D** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 3:53 pm

Wonder if anybody has ever tried a liquid rust remover product?

alexander38 · Post by **alexander38** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 3:54 pm

if it's painted a wire wheel will be ok, I use the straight wire ones not a twisted wire one to stiff IMO..

jefflaw35 · Post by **jefflaw35** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 3:57 pm

Big D wrote:Wonder if anybody has ever tried a liquid rust remover product?

most ive found are worthless, CLR is junk, best is Ospho. but you have to wait days for the rust to fossilize, snad and reapply and wait days agin, then be ready to repair and prime quickly

alexander38 · Post by **alexander38** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 4:04 pm

Big D wrote:Wonder if anybody has ever tried a liquid rust remover product?

if your tiring to get grime and green off, We soaked it bronze and brass in grape kool-aid in the navy it worked great..paint wire wheel...

larryeddington · Post by **larryeddington** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 7:48 pm

I have two soda blasters one holds 15 lbs of soda and it absolutely made afb carbs inside and out look like new and water desolved any remaining soda grains, I just bought a 40 lb one as I really like them as not distructive. I also have sand blasters and you can used crushed glass, coal clinker grit (called black diamond I think) or walnut hulls in it.

As you might guess I am a blasting nut it is fun and easy well it is work but the results are amazing. Harbor freight sells the 15 lb soda one and it works for most light jobs and they are not too expensive. Tip find a local supplier that sells blasting material they are so much cheaper than HF.

Suggest not using beach sand, it does work but there is a lot of warnings about the dust causing silicosis (sic) I would sure use good breathing filter if I used beach sand, if a small job might not make any difference.

There is also a water blaster that uses an attachment to a highpressure washer, that is safer with beach sand, Northern tool sells one I do not remember what I paid for it but it was not much. Have not tried it as yet.

yorklyn · Post by **yorklyn** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 9:05 pm

First time I've ever heard using grape coolaid! May have to let my 9yr old give that a try. He always wants to help! I was looking at the 15 lb soda blaster at harbor freight the other day. How does the 15lb one compare to the 40lb one? I was thinking of a blasting cabinet to keep the dust down but after 3 days of grinding fiberglass I have dust everywhere at my shop anyway!
I do polyurea coatings (similar to LineX bedliner material) and we use the northern tool wet aggrate blaster to prep concrete. It will strip just about anything when used with a 4000psi pressure washer.

Here's some stuff I want to clean up
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Thanks for all the help everyone!

jefflaw35 · Post by **jefflaw35** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 9:14 pm

larryeddington wrote:I have two soda blasters one holds 15 lbs of soda and it absolutely made afb carbs inside and out look like new and water desolved any remaining soda grains, I just bought a 40 lb one as I really like them as not distructive. I also have sand blasters and you can used crushed glass, coal clinker grit (called black diamond I think) or walnut hulls in it.

As you might guess I am a blasting nut it is fun and easy well it is work but the results are amazing. Harbor freight sells the 15 lb soda one and it works for most light jobs and they are not too expensive. Tip find a local supplier that sells blasting material they are so much cheaper than HF.

Suggest not using beach sand, it does work but there is a lot of warnings about the dust causing silicosis (sic) I would sure use good breathing filter if I used beach sand, if a small job might not make any difference.
You are correct, anytime I'm at home or at work, using a box or open air blasting I wear the proper equipment, all blasting material are rough on your lungs and body
There is also a water blaster that uses an attachment to a highpressure washer, that is safer with beach sand, Northern tool sells one I do not remember what I paid for it but it was not much. Have not tried it as yet.

larryeddington · Post by **larryeddington** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 9:17 pm

The 40lbr holds almost a full sack so lasts longer, and has a larger fill neck so easier to fill. Soda is much softer, as I said earlier it cleaned my AFB carbies spotless without damaging any of the metal. You will want to do it out doors as it will look like it snowed. First rain or a hose makes it go away. Needless to say would wear safety glasses which will get covered and have to be washed off and I would at least wear an inespensive mask or bandanna. The soda is not supposed to bo toxic nor harmful to the environment. I would op for the 40 if you think you might use it often.

When they did the bottom of my boat the equipment was way bigger, still at 100 psi but centrifugal compressor and BIG hoses.

Interesting about water blaster have not used mine yet.

jefflaw35 · Post by **jefflaw35** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 9:23 pm

I would buy a cabinet as you will get a lot use out if it, they are nice, the larger parts I use a hotspot blaster with soda or beach but I use a suit and fresh air system. Fiberglass dust and linex is very harsh stuff, in my career I have found it to be worse than any automotive materials, respiratory protection is deff number one concern. But just about anything you decide will get the job done. Can't wait to see the cleaned up new parts!!

yorklyn · Post by **yorklyn** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:36 pm

We use survive air full face masks for work with either cartridges or fresh air from our ambient air pump. I also have a bullard sand blast helment we bought for 1 job and havent used since! I am all about using the proper protection. Thanks