Ok, so I am an idiot. I pushed things too far and may have cost myself
a bit of money in the process. I work with beer equipment and had some
old brass draft beer towers that needed some love. One of the cleaning
chemicals I work with is hydrochloric acid and I've noticed that when
I use this on brass parts they shine. I think this may work on the
tower I have so I soak it in a solution of 7 oz. hydrochloric acid and
4 gallons of water overnight. First day it looks good, second day it
looks better, third even better, fourth day it is pink! What happened?
Is there anything I can do to restore the shine? Any help would be
appreciated because I would like to save this thing if I can. Thanks
in advance.

wrote in message
...
Ok, so I am an idiot. I pushed things too far and may have cost myself
a bit of money in the process. I work with beer equipment and had some
old brass draft beer towers that needed some love. One of the cleaning
chemicals I work with is hydrochloric acid and I've noticed that when
I use this on brass parts they shine. I think this may work on the
tower I have so I soak it in a solution of 7 oz. hydrochloric acid and
4 gallons of water overnight. First day it looks good, second day it
looks better, third even better, fourth day it is pink! What happened?
Is there anything I can do to restore the shine? Any help would be
appreciated because I would like to save this thing if I can. Thanks
in advance.

If it's pink, you've de-zincified it. Hope that it's only on the surface. If
so, you may be able to abrade the surface copper off (maybe some fine
wet-dry sandpaper, followed by a couple of grades of abrasive polish) and
get back down to brass.

Or maybe you'll get really lucky and someone here will have an easier
solution. Good luck.

--
Ed Huntress

"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
Ok, so I am an idiot. I pushed things too far and may have cost myself
a bit of money in the process. I work with beer equipment and had some
old brass draft beer towers that needed some love. One of the cleaning
chemicals I work with is hydrochloric acid and I've noticed that when
I use this on brass parts they shine. I think this may work on the
tower I have so I soak it in a solution of 7 oz. hydrochloric acid and
4 gallons of water overnight. First day it looks good, second day it
looks better, third even better, fourth day it is pink! What happened?
Is there anything I can do to restore the shine? Any help would be
appreciated because I would like to save this thing if I can. Thanks
in advance.

If it's pink, you've de-zincified it. Hope that it's only on the surface.
If so, you may be able to abrade the surface copper off (maybe some fine
wet-dry sandpaper, followed by a couple of grades of abrasive polish) and
get back down to brass.

Or maybe you'll get really lucky and someone here will have an easier
solution. Good luck.

--
Ed Huntress

Ed's right , you have etched the zinc out of the surface.

If you are lucky and it is not too deep, you can use a hydrogen peroxide
pickle technique to strip back the copper rich surface.

http://www.artmetal.com/files/import...onfe/H2O2.html

It will leave the surface dull, but well within the range of hand polishing.
4 gal is a lot of peroxide though.

It is also a great technique for cleaning up when you burn out the zinc with
a torch after silver brazing or etching it out with acid flux.

HCl is a little strong for general cleaning. I prefer citric acid or sodium
bisulfate (AKA Sparex, or sold in the pool supply section under various
brand names as a granular ph reducer for pool water).

Paul K. Dickman

wrote in message
...
Ok, so I am an idiot. I pushed things too far and may have cost myself
a bit of money in the process. I work with beer equipment and had some
old brass draft beer towers that needed some love. One of the cleaning
chemicals I work with is hydrochloric acid and I've noticed that when
I use this on brass parts they shine. I think this may work on the
tower I have so I soak it in a solution of 7 oz. hydrochloric acid and
4 gallons of water overnight. First day it looks good, second day it
looks better, third even better, fourth day it is pink! What happened?
Is there anything I can do to restore the shine? Any help would be
appreciated because I would like to save this thing if I can. Thanks
in advance.

A similar thing happens when silver-brazing brass: the surface zinc
boils off leaving just copper on the surface.

A buffing wheel will restore the brass look. An automotive buffer
with rubbing compound might even work though it might take a while.
I've not found a chemical that will preferentially remove copper while
leaving zinc.

On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:26:41 -0500, "Paul K. Dickman"
wrote:




http://www.artmetal.com/files/import...onfe/H2O2.html

It will leave the surface dull, but well within the range of hand polishing.
4 gal is a lot of peroxide though.

It is also a great technique for cleaning up when you burn out the zinc with
a torch after silver brazing or etching it out with acid flux.

Way cool, Paul!

H202 is available at Wal-Mart (pharmacy) for about a buck a quart
IIRC.

"Don Foreman" wrote in message
...



wrote in message
...
Ok, so I am an idiot. I pushed things too far and may have cost myself
a bit of money in the process. I work with beer equipment and had some
old brass draft beer towers that needed some love. One of the cleaning
chemicals I work with is hydrochloric acid and I've noticed that when
I use this on brass parts they shine. I think this may work on the
tower I have so I soak it in a solution of 7 oz. hydrochloric acid and
4 gallons of water overnight. First day it looks good, second day it
looks better, third even better, fourth day it is pink! What happened?
Is there anything I can do to restore the shine? Any help would be
appreciated because I would like to save this thing if I can. Thanks
in advance.

A similar thing happens when silver-brazing brass: the surface zinc
boils off leaving just copper on the surface.

A buffing wheel will restore the brass look. An automotive buffer
with rubbing compound might even work though it might take a while.
I've not found a chemical that will preferentially remove copper while
leaving zinc.

Be careful using a power buffer on dezincified brass. My only experience
with it is with brass parts that have lost their zinc from prolonged
exposure to salt water, but I've found that the surface varies in hardness
and it really looks like hell when you use power to cut down to clean brass.
That's why I suggested using fine wet-dry. I've used that with success, even
though it takes some work to do it by hand.

I'm very interested in the peroxide treatment that was suggested, however.
Unfortunately, I no longer have my uncle's boat to try it on. g

--
Ed Huntress

"Don Foreman" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:26:41 -0500, "Paul K. Dickman"
wrote:




http://www.artmetal.com/files/import...onfe/H2O2.html

It will leave the surface dull, but well within the range of hand
polishing.
4 gal is a lot of peroxide though.

It is also a great technique for cleaning up when you burn out the zinc
with
a torch after silver brazing or etching it out with acid flux.

Way cool, Paul!

H202 is available at Wal-Mart (pharmacy) for about a buck a quart
IIRC.

It works pretty good. I has to be hot though. When working with small stuff
I heat up a cupful in the microwave.

Clean off the flux and pickle off the black scale as usual, then use this to
blast off the copper.

The vinegar solution is pretty aggressive. It is worth tracking down the
sodium bisulfate, but use it all the time for jewelry work so I always have
it on hand.

Only mix up as much of the peroxide mix as you will use right away. It'll
process a fair bit of metal but the peroxide starts breaking down the second
you open the bottle and your mix will be mostly water if you try to use it
the next day.

Paul K. Dickman

On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:36:12 -0500, "Paul K. Dickman"
wrote:


Only mix up as much of the peroxide mix as you will use right away. It'll
process a fair bit of metal but the peroxide starts breaking down the second
you open the bottle and your mix will be mostly water if you try to use it
the next day.

And remember that common drugstore Hydrogen Peroxide is only 2% in
water. If you want some more serious action, you can buy more
concentrated H2O2 from a chemical supply - If BATF & Homeland Security
lets you... I've seen where a pool man for condos we work at buys
40% (or stronger when available) in 12-gallon drums. (50 Liters?)

They use the 98% strength H2O2 as the mono-propellant fuel for those
1950's Rocket Man Jet Packs, just run it over a platinum catalyst in
the rocket 'motor' and you get instant steam... Problem being the ~25
second flight time, and they only get that with a skinny pilot.

Ed's right , you have etched the zinc out of the surface.

If you are lucky and it is not too deep, you can use a hydrogen peroxide
pickle technique to strip back the copper rich surface.

http://www.artmetal.com/files/import...onfe/H2O2.html

It will leave the surface dull, but well within the range of hand
polishing. 4 gal is a lot of peroxide though.

It is also a great technique for cleaning up when you burn out the zinc
with a torch after silver brazing or etching it out with acid flux.

HCl is a little strong for general cleaning. I prefer citric acid or
sodium bisulfate (AKA Sparex, or sold in the pool supply section under
various brand names as a granular ph reducer for pool water).

Paul K. Dickman

Good link! Sadly hydrogen peroxide is not so easy to come by this side of
the pond thanks to the activities of a few of our eastward facing citizens

"Bruce L. Bergman" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:36:12 -0500, "Paul K. Dickman"
wrote:


Only mix up as much of the peroxide mix as you will use right away. It'll
process a fair bit of metal but the peroxide starts breaking down the
second
you open the bottle and your mix will be mostly water if you try to use it
the next day.

And remember that common drugstore Hydrogen Peroxide is only 2% in
water.

It is 3% these days and that is all that is needed.


If you want some more serious action, you can buy more
concentrated H2O2 from a chemical supply - If BATF & Homeland Security
lets you... I've seen where a pool man for condos we work at buys
40% (or stronger when available) in 12-gallon drums. (50 Liters?)

You can get 40% at a beauty supply house, but I have only used it for
bombing gold with cyanide and peroxide.



They use the 98% strength H2O2 as the mono-propellant fuel for those
1950's Rocket Man Jet Packs, just run it over a platinum catalyst in
the rocket 'motor' and you get instant steam... Problem being the ~25
second flight time, and they only get that with a skinny pilot.


The catalyst bed was silver. My brother was building a rocket belt during an
extended midlife crisis. He was over here every week getting me to make some
part or review some design. I became a sort of defacto expert in rocket belt
technology.


Paul K. Dickman

"newshound" wrote in message
...

Ed's right , you have etched the zinc out of the surface.

If you are lucky and it is not too deep, you can use a hydrogen peroxide
pickle technique to strip back the copper rich surface.

http://www.artmetal.com/files/import...onfe/H2O2.html

It will leave the surface dull, but well within the range of hand
polishing. 4 gal is a lot of peroxide though.

It is also a great technique for cleaning up when you burn out the zinc
with a torch after silver brazing or etching it out with acid flux.

HCl is a little strong for general cleaning. I prefer citric acid or
sodium bisulfate (AKA Sparex, or sold in the pool supply section under
various brand names as a granular ph reducer for pool water).

Paul K. Dickman

Good link! Sadly hydrogen peroxide is not so easy to come by this side of
the pond thanks to the activities of a few of our eastward facing citizens

The mix uses only 3% solution. Over here, that strength is sold at drug
stores as a topical antiseptic.

Paul K. Dickman

On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:58:33 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

Ok, so I am an idiot. I pushed things too far and may have cost myself
a bit of money in the process. I work with beer equipment and had some
old brass draft beer towers that needed some love. One of the cleaning
chemicals I work with is hydrochloric acid and I've noticed that when
I use this on brass parts they shine. I think this may work on the
tower I have so I soak it in a solution of 7 oz. hydrochloric acid and
4 gallons of water overnight. First day it looks good, second day it
looks better, third even better, fourth day it is pink! What happened?
Is there anything I can do to restore the shine? Any help would be
appreciated because I would like to save this thing if I can. Thanks
in advance.


I've had the same problem using much higher proportions of acid (works
faster). You have de-zinced the surface. Try a scotch-bright and scrub
it just a bit. It will probably clean right up.

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom)

On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:32:48 -0500, "Paul K. Dickman"
wrote:


The catalyst bed was silver. My brother was building a rocket belt during an
extended midlife crisis. He was over here every week getting me to make some
part or review some design. I became a sort of defacto expert in rocket belt
technology.


Paul K. Dickman


Did he ever manage to fly it?

Gunner

"Gunner" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:32:48 -0500, "Paul K. Dickman"
wrote:


The catalyst bed was silver. My brother was building a rocket belt during
an
extended midlife crisis. He was over here every week getting me to make
some
part or review some design. I became a sort of defacto expert in rocket
belt
technology.


Paul K. Dickman


Did he ever manage to fly it?

Gunner

No.
We got close enough to start thinking about the peroxide distillery, when he
got sidetracked.

There are several people, who built one in their sheds , that are at the
tethered flight stage.

Check over on the yahoo group for rocket belts, they have links to some test
flight videos.

Paul K. Dickman