I didn't intend to make a tutorial on Oxalic-Acid Baths, but since I have already posted some info I thought it would be useful to summarize all of the process that I can think of. I've only done this a couple of times and I had to do some research again to remind myself of some things this time. So having it in one place is as much for me as anyone else in the future.
First though is a disclaimer: I'm in no way an expert on any of this so proceed at your own risk!
Here's what I've learned from others and from my own experience.
1) Disassemble your parts and clean them thoroughly before everything else.
2) Make a plan for what parts are to be done and in what order. I chose the most fragile painted parts first to give them the best shot.
3) Build a container around your parts while minimizing the amount of water needed. (See previous post above) Place it in direct sunlight if possible to help maintain the heat as much as possible.
4) Before starting the OA mix, have everything ready such as rubber gloves, safety glasses, plastic bucket, scrub pads (I used the white non-scratch pads), old toothbrush, etc.
5) Heat the water to the boiling point if possible, transfer it to a plastic bucket, and add 1 tablespoon of OA powder to one gallon of water. Pour the solution into your pool. Pouring from the bucket to the pool is sufficient for mixing.
6) Once the pool is full and the parts start soaking, help it along by taking the piece out after 30 minutes or so and scrub it lightly with a scrub pad and clean water to remove loose scale. Rinse and repeat until you're happy with it. This is more important on paint than chrome to make sure it doesn't stay too long and remove the paint. Taking parts out to clean and rinse keeps the solution cleaner and more effective.
7) After removing the part for the last time rinse and flush thoroughly. (I actually took my frame in the house and submerged it in our bathtub with cool water and baking soda to neutralize any AO left on the inside of the frame.) Dry everything and blow out the inside of frame tubes with compressed air if you can. Then spray WD-40 liberally inside of the frame tilting and rotating to cover as much of the tubes as possible to prevent flash rust. Lastly, spray and wipe WD-40 on the outside.
8) Place any other parts in the bath as soon as any space opens up. Add more hot water and AO as needed.
9) Chrome parts that are easy to scrub clean like chain rings, cranks, handlebars, etc. can be left unattended for longer without as much concern about the 'yellow film' that will collect with time.
10) Emptying the water out into the ground is not harmful from what I understand. However, if you are concerned about it, dump some baking soda into the solution first to neutralize it.
If anyone else can think of anything else, let me know and I'll add to this for future reference.
