How to remove minerals from an old teapot?
 

Hi,

This is the inside of a very large old brass Russian samovar (http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samovar);

http://freeboundaries.com/inside.jpg

What you see is a very thick layer of minerals, possibly 100 years
old. How does one go about removing it?


(Also, I made the mistake of filling it with water is my bathtub and
letting it overrun. Now the outside is covered with mineral-ly streaks
that seem to be completely embedded in the brass. Any way of getting
those out?)

Thanks!

Aaron

How to remove minerals from an old teapot?
 

Aaron Fude wrote:
....

This is the inside of a very large old brass Russian samovar ...

What you see is a very thick layer of minerals, possibly 100 years
old. How does one go about removing it?
....

Start by soaking in hot vinegar...also could try the CLR lime removal
product which might be a little faster. After that, need more
aggressive acids, but w/o knowing the underlying metal better, caution
is the better course.

Time and these will _eventually_ dissolve the mineral solids...

--

How to remove minerals from an old teapot?
 

Yeah, vinegar is the trick to getting rid of calcium. Who knows the
condition of the metal below? It's probably erroded.

"dpb" wrote in message ...
Aaron Fude wrote:
...

This is the inside of a very large old brass Russian samovar ...

What you see is a very thick layer of minerals, possibly 100 years
old. How does one go about removing it?
...

Start by soaking in hot vinegar...also could try the CLR lime removal
product which might be a little faster. After that, need more
aggressive acids, but w/o knowing the underlying metal better, caution
is the better course.

Time and these will _eventually_ dissolve the mineral solids...

--