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RustySprockets said:
Sure, you can warm it up, but I wouldn't try that in the wife's favorite cookware.
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She doesn't have an 18 gallon pot. (I checked.):21:

I just finished cleaning most of the parts and I didn't have the 'snow' problem anyway. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I will. As expected there wasn't a lot of paint left to reveal, but what it did expose looks cool. It should have that perfect rat patina that I want though!
 
Looks like Photobucket doesn't like the traffic going to the original photos in my first post. They worked up until today. I can't even go to my own photobucket account and view them myself! :mad:



I took a screenshot of the thumbnails so I could upload them directly. *(%^$#&^%!:blackeye:
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The Renaissance Man said:
So can you reverse that by raising the temperature again? Thanks!
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Joel the science guy!:nerd:
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Yes actually. It will go back into solution. I had this one nightmare day with a kiddie pool and a hailstorm. I brought the whole mess into the garage. Three hours turned into eight but here she is. Hang on I have a picture somewhere of that morning
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RustySprockets said:
Sure, you can warm it up, but I wouldn't try that in the wife's favorite cookware.
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About that: dissolve your acid in a "disposable" thrift store pan. My 316l cookware doesn't care but I used something copper clad and pretty much destroyed it. I don't want to explain why. I sold stupid expensive cookware and I used one of my "trade in" (I recommend throwing away just about anything other than the stuff I cook with. I had a scrap metal box with a few in it and used one) pans this last time because most of mine were in the fridge with leftovers. Cheap cookware plus oa equals trash. I forgot because I am spoiled of whatever to my 316l

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joel.romeo.79 said:
About that: dissolve your acid in a "disposable" thrift store pan. My 316l cookware doesn't care but I used something copper clad and pretty much destroyed it. I don't want to explain why. I sold stupid expensive cookware and I used one of my "trade in" (I recommend throwing away just about anything other than the stuff I cook with. I had a scrap metal box with a few in it and used one) pans this last time because most of mine were in the fridge with leftovers. Cheap cookware plus oa equals trash. I forgot because I am spoiled of whatever to my 316l

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Can someone tell me what this solution is? What is OA? is mixed with water?
 
joel.romeo.79 said:
About that: dissolve your acid in a "disposable" thrift store pan. My 316l cookware doesn't care but I used something copper clad and pretty much destroyed it. I don't want to explain why.
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I heated water on the stove in the biggest boiler we have and then poured it into a 5 gallon plastic bucket with the OA waiting in the bottom. Then I poured the solution out of the plastic bucket into my home made 'vat' that already had the parts covered with hot water while making sure to move around as I poured it in. Because my vat is outside and it was about to rain, I covered it to keep the rain out. This turned out to be a huge help for containing the heat also. I uncovered it several hours later to stir the solution and there was still steam rising from the water!

As for my vat, I laid out all of my parts on the floor to determine the smallest size area that it would fit in, and then built a box out of 2x6 scrap lumber. Then I leveled a bottom for it outside and sat the box on top. Anything flat would do, I looked around and had an old section of wood fence panel that fit about right and used it. Really, if the ground had been level where I wanted to set it up, it wouldn't have even needed a bottom. I stacked some bricks in the corners that wouldn't be needed and covered the whole thing with a sheet of black poly. Once everything was laid in place, I filled another void with some more bricks much the same way some people put a brick in the toilet tank to use less water. It ended up using about 18 gallons.
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RustySprockets said:
Oxalic acid, which is commonly used as a wood bleach. In the United States, it is typically available as a powder that can be mixed with water in various concentrations.

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thank you rusty. Does it do the same vinegar service? Is it just to take the rust? I have used the vinegar to remove the rust and I have achieved good results.
 
léocwc said:
thank you rusty. Does it do the same vinegar service? Is it just to take the rust? I have used the vinegar to remove the rust and I have achieved good results.
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I use vinegar, too. Mostly on small fasteners or other items that can be placed in a jar. Some people find the odor of vinegar objectionable or irritating...it doesn't bother me too much. There are quite a few weak acid products that would achieve good results--OA is one of the more economical ones. Vinegar is relatively cheap, but 18 gallons of it could add up to a hefty chunk of change.
 
léocwc said:
thank you rusty. Does it do the same vinegar service? Is it just to take the rust? I have used the vinegar to remove the rust and I have achieved good results.
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I use vinegar for most all of my rust removal too. As @RustySprockets pointed out, it would take a lot to fill up what is needed for a complete frame. I've been wanting to try OA after seeing others do some amazing transformations with it so this was my chance!
 
Got everything except a couple of handle bars out of the bath yesterday evening and coated everything with boiled linseed oil today.

This has been a rapid fire build so I haven't been as diligent with my photos as I usually like to be. However, I did stop long enough to take a side by side comparison of the fenders before and after the BLO. I like how it makes the previously rusty metal look dark again. As I said earlier, the paint was pretty far gone so this was the 'rat rod' look I wanted anyway.

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One of the issues that I discovered was the drive side bearings in the bottom bracket. When I opened it up, all of the ball bearings where laying in the bottom and the bearing cage was jammed up in the cup. Apparently the kid that rode this bike last didn't let that stop him though! There's no telling how many miles he/she must have rode it like this because the cone and washer was worn down and practically welded to the crank arm. I had to use a torch to heat it before it would come loose.

It's hard to tell how much the cone is grooved from this picture, but to give you an idea that is supposed to be a flat washer next to it on the right!
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Yikes! At least those parts are easily replaced, plentiful, and cheap. What does the cup look like?

I discovered the lower headset bearing on my Shelby had no spheres whatsoever; everything was riding on the remnants of the spent cage. How do people not notice these things?
 
RustySprockets said:
What does the cup look like?

How do people not notice these things?
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Remarkably the cup didn't have any issues. I guess the cage protected it and/or the contact was along the edge. I have the same size bearing and cone set from another bike so it's an easy fix.
As far as not noticing it, I'm guessing it was a kid that had no way of actually doing anything about it and just kept on riding as long as it would go!
 

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