Cleaning (restoring ) bakelite reels

[mark bumgarner]

Well its 8 degrees so guess I will work on some reels and am in need of advice for restoring-cleaning old bakelite. I have a Bronson New Deal reel that is in solid condition, other than it has a dull finish. I have read where old radio buffs use brasso and a number of other polishing pastes but would like to hear from some of you reel guys. I browsed through the reel restoration page on this board but did not see anything on bakelite. Did I miss it?

Thanks and Happy New Year to ALL
Bummy

[Ron Mc]

Bakelite will clean safely in short exposures with vinegar bath, solvents, or with polishes.
It's so thoroughly cross-linked, you can't attack it with anything milder than methylene chloride.
Alcohol, acetone, mineral spirits - no worries.

[mark bumgarner]

Well that was quick! Thanks Ron. So I think I will start with vinegar as it seems less offensive to me. Can you give me some parameters on " Short Exposures " , I tend to over do things. Can I use a buffing wheel?

[john elder]

As Ron suggested, try 1:1 white vinegar:water as a start. You can leave overnight, but see where you are after an hour. Its likely that will do all its going to do. You can then polish with Simichrome or other polishing compounds and bring out a shine by polishing with a soft cloth after. Also as Ron indicated, the material is so dense you won’t get any deep shine… surface will do you.

John

[mark bumgarner]

Thank you John. I will get on this tomorrow. I have a couple Newago 500 reels which are basically the same reel except they are black bakelite and both have pretty good shine, I think they were better cared for.

Thanks again
Bummy

[Ron Mc]

I wouldn't go more than 2-3 hours on vinegar bath, but John has done this at least as much as I have.
Years (and years) ago, I wrote this cleaning tutorial on FFR:
https://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/ ... f=4&t=1385

The best solvent for heavily tarred lube residue is mineral spirits.
And still a good idea to use vinegar bath first.

[mark bumgarner]

OK thanks Ron, good post and info. Well I have a before photo already so if this goes well I will post after photo, if not welllllll!

[John.saulen]

Is anyone using a CRC water based cleaning foam? I have experienced no issues so far using this product on lightly gunked up reels, even on Bakelite and plastics.

[Brian F.]

Believe it or not, I've used Huggies baby wipes to clean grease off of reels and since the last 10 years, Wet Ones hand wipes. Had both of them around the house and, before I wore gloves to clean reels, I was trying all of the usual things to clean off grease from my hands, mechanic's gel, dishwashing soap, etc. Didn't want to use the toxic stuff with solvents since I've already killed enough brain cells with Simichrome. When my kids were small, we always had the baby wipes in easy reach so I thought, "eh, why not?". And wouldn't you know, grease came off my hands like that. So the next logical step was to just use it on a reel. Figured if it's good enough for a baby's butt, should be ok for my reels lol. They work great on most greasy reels and even caked on grease too. I changed to the anti-bacterial wipes because the baby wipes were made of a fibery polyester material that could leave a haze on polished metal and bakelite/hard rubber surfaces if not careful. I use the liquid from the wipes with an electric toothbrush to get in hard to reach spots between crank collars and end caps, gear teeth, etc. Oh yeah, electric toothbrush

[kyreels]

Is anyone using a CRC water based cleaning foam?

I think that the vinegar followed by a degreaser is the recommended path by many ORCA reel restoration experts. The question I think you may be raising is whether to use mineral spirits or a formulated degreaser. I personally think that mineral spirits are not as green as I would like, so I have experimented with other degreasers. It looks like the SDS for the CDC product shows it contains 2-butoxyethanol and C9-11 alcohols ethoxylated. CDC says it is safe for plastics.

Wet Ones contains Benzalkonium Chloride and Ethyl Alcohol.

[Brian F.]

Wet Ones contains Benzalkonium Chloride and Ethyl Alcohol.

Is that not a good thing, Matt?

[kyreels]

I dont think there is anything wrong with Alcohol and a surfactant ( Benzalkonium Chloride). I think its a pretty good combo for degreasing reels. I guess the same thing is true for the CRC degreaser. It’s also safer than the benzine recommended back in the 1900 as the cleaning agent for Meek reels. And safer than mineral spirits.

I always appreciate Ron Mc's posts because his profession is/was to analyze a product's materials and talk about the impacts from a cause and effect scientific viewpoint. In other words, "why might you use a Wet Wipe"? I personally don't have any materials engineering or chemical background, so I defer to other experts on these discussions. But I would like to settle myself on finding the best "green" degreaser that is effective. I have poured too many quarts of mineral spirits into the sewer.

[Ron Mc]

Matt, mineral spirits is the carrier in both Boeshield and WD-40.
Boeshield includes a wax with corrosion inhibitors and, of course, WD-40 includes an oil.

You don't have to disrespect the environment to use either of those, and the small amount of mineral spirits flashes or is absorbed in your cleaning rag (bamboo paper towels are really tough, btw).
I lube my stainless bicycle chains with Molten Speed Wax, and after 1000 mi, strip it with mineral spirits to start over - of course, in my lab, I have organic waste can for the two hundred ml or so.

[Stef Duma]

I have followed Ron Mc. advise for years and I have learn alot. I purchased Boeshield many years ago when the price in UK was extortionate and only one company sold it. It is without doubt the best.

[mark bumgarner]

OK guys I have to say I am pretty happy with the way this reel cleaned up with the vinegar bath, some scrubbing, and simichrome polish, just like you advised. Here are after pictures.

[john elder]