Stem Cleaner/Polish

Mister Moo · 03-30-2016, 06:08 PM

For me the answer is, "It depends."

If it's in the brown to green category and there's no nomenclature on the stem, or none you want to preserve, 30-minutes in straight bleach (which kinda furs up vulcanite) then rinse with water and wet sand with MicroMesh fabric 4,000 through 12,000 for a glasslike finish.

If lightly oxidized then a soak in water with a tablespoon or two of OxyClean, rinnse and sand as needed.

If just a bit discolored it's pretty easy to wet sand a MicroMesh sequence from 6,000 to 12,000

If nomenclature is in-situ and you want to preserve it, same as above but cover the nomenclature with a glop of Vaseline before soaking and beware sanding or oversanding inked-on details.

Nothing wrong with a low speed buffer if you have one, cotton wheels and proper use of an emery, tripoli and white diamond sequence but lower speeds are important - you can overheat and mess up some vulcanite in a heartbeat.

IMO.

03-30-2016, 06:08 PM	#1
Mister Moo I barely grok the obvious Join Date: Oct 2008 First Name: Dan Location: Lizard Lick, NC Posts: 1,417 Trading: (3)	Re: Stem Cleaner/Polish For me the answer is, "It depends." If it's in the brown to green category and there's no nomenclature on the stem, or none you want to preserve, 30-minutes in straight bleach (which kinda furs up vulcanite) then rinse with water and wet sand with MicroMesh fabric 4,000 through 12,000 for a glasslike finish. If lightly oxidized then a soak in water with a tablespoon or two of OxyClean, rinnse and sand as needed. If just a bit discolored it's pretty easy to wet sand a MicroMesh sequence from 6,000 to 12,000 If nomenclature is in-situ and you want to preserve it, same as above but cover the nomenclature with a glop of Vaseline before soaking and beware sanding or oversanding inked-on details. Nothing wrong with a low speed buffer if you have one, cotton wheels and proper use of an emery, tripoli and white diamond sequence but lower speeds are important - you can overheat and mess up some vulcanite in a heartbeat. IMO. __________________ "I hope you had the time of your life."