Cleaning Discovery (new to me)

[OCauto]

I ordered some Genuine, triple fine, grade 3F pumice powder from Brownells for cleaning and smoothing rough and nasty varnish on bamboo rods. I also ordered some soft felt pads as well. I mixed a portion of the Pumice with mineral oil. I used enough mineral oil to make the mixture shake-able prior to each use. The other night I was looking at an older reel that was nasty. What the heck, I picked up the felt pad, poured a drop or two of the pumice mixture and began rubbing. Voila, what a nice job it did without leaving any abrasive marks or brassing. It even did a great job on a hard rubber end cap that was on my desk. The felt pads are stiff enough to use on edge as well and get into tight spots. I have used it several times now and find it cleans better than simichrome and polishes almost as well.

[jimbofish]

You might also consider picking up some Rottenstone. It's a finer grade of polish meant to be used after using pumice for a higher gloss finish. Used to be fairly easy to find in paint stores, now woodworking sites carry it, eg, Lee Valley. I've used both for refinishing tabletops. Never thought of using it on metal, but it makes sense as metal polishes use the same grits in a different carrier.

[OCauto]

You might also consider picking up some Rottenstone. It's a finer grade of polish meant to be used after using pumice for a higher gloss finish. Used to be fairly easy to find in paint stores, now woodworking sites carry it, eg, Lee Valley. I've used both for refinishing tabletops. Never thought of using it on metal, but it makes sense as metal polishes use the same grits in a different carrier.

You are correct, I have Rottenstone also but have not needed or tried it on anything metallic yet.

[Brian F.]

Thanks for sharing the tip.

[sth2006]

OCauto,

Thanks for the tip. I will give this a try. I'm curious, do you use the mineral oil mixed with 3F on your bamboo rods? Is that where the idea came from? I've heard of using 3F with 0000 steel wool, but not the mineral oil.

Steve

[OCauto]

The pumice is a dry powder and almost unusable without a carrier. Mineral oil is a perfect carrier as the pumice needs to be kept in a somewhat liquid state to apply it. I typically use this for cleaning Bamboo prior to polishing. I use Triple F or Five F for a nice polish. The pumice is much cheaper but serves a different purpose as a cleaner/smoother of rough varnish. I do not use steel wool on my Bamboo, I use the felt pads only and cloth rags to wipe clean and dry. In my humble opinion, steel wool is too abrasive and can damage wraps. I find that the Triple F or Five F with felt pads will clean the wraps too without abrading them..

We used to use steel wool to deglaze a varnish finish prior to a second or third coat. I have always treated steel wool as abrasive.

Al

[john elder]

Thanks for the comments, Al....i'll have to give that a go on both rods and reels. I do use 0000 steel wool often for stubborn things and of course, it is abrasive. However, i have found i can control it as long as it is kept wet, either with Simichrome or some carrier like mineral oil or water.

I was watching some Rick's restoration reruns last night and he was showing one i want to try. He was using aluminum foil and water to remove surface rust from things...claimed that the rubbing generated Aluminum particles that formed a mild abrasive...neat idea and cheap, if it works! Seemed to work well on his project at least.

[OCauto]

I have used tin/aluminum foil on mildly rusty chrome bumpers & chrome wheels before. I never thought of using it on a reel however.

[sth2006]

Thank you John and Al,

I only recently tried the brownells 3F and 5F on a bamboo "low end" practice rod this past summer with 0000 steel wool saturated with 3F. Even though the 0000 grade is mild, I agree it is an abrasive and would not use it on reals.
As I've read in Sinclair's Bamboo Rod Restoration Handbook, the 0000 steel wool saturated with 3F is used to soften the varnish, so it can be redistributed, so it's not being used where it could scratch anything. 3F is kerosene based, which along with the fine grit will work nicely according to Sinclair.

The reason I was curious about your use of mineral oil was if it helped to speed up the process. The 0000 steel wool and 3F took awhile on the old rod I was practicing with. The 5F is mineral spirits based, and used more as the fine polish. The steel wool however is messy, leaving little pieces all over the place. I also tried Scotch-Brite scouring pads, which the hardware store advertised as equivalent to 0000 steel wool. John, I wonder if these pads might be a better substitute for 0000 steel wool on those hard to remove rust spots?

Steve

[OCauto]

I'm sure I haven't cleaning reels for as long as most of you have but it only took me one reel to decide that the felt pads were my number one choice from now on. They can be cut into different sized pieces to suit your needs. I also found them to stay usable longer than other things I have used.

Mineral oil, it is just one of the carriers that is recommended and I had some already. It works fine for me...and it is surely not as messy as the 3F or 5F. And it has no warning about exposure to you skin.

Al