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I have a 1938 woman's CWC frame that my daughter wants me to get ready for her to ride. It hung it the rafters of a mechanics garage for 60 years before I got it. It was covered in dry oil, rust and dust. It looked brown but when I started cleaning it the original blue came through. It needed a good cleaning and stripping so I put it outside when it was in the 40s F and doused it with oven cleaner. Then I pored boiling water over it from an electric kettle. All the grease from the outside and inside the chain tensioner, head tube and BB came clean out. Almost all of the old paint came off so all I have to do is scratch at it with some picks and sand a little. It took four 15 minute treatments with oven cleaner in the cold to get it to clean off most of the paint. I plan to try to continue the experiment by using a wipe down with Navel Jelly followed by a wipe with gun rust remover. I can't soak in phosphoric acid as it is too cold outside to work and my dip sled is too big to bring inside. I plan to paint it in March when it is 40 F and sunny. Don't try this on aluminum as the lye would remove some of the metal and it will also remove anodizing. Make sure you do this outside away from anything you care about and wear rubber gloves and a mask. I did my treatments in the snow that covered my driveway so as not to have the lye melt into my grass in the spring.
After the first treatment:
After the 4th treatment:
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