Tinning and vinegar

[Aetius Helvius Merula]

Hey guys, been busy over the winter and not much time to work on kit but with more daylight that's changing. I'm reworking on my hamata. Some fittings are tinned, and I'm adding more. Now it needs a good cleaning and I was going to use the vinegar method. Does that have an adverse effect on tinned items?

[Magnus]

I have no idea...but in my mind, it shouldn't? Only because tin is fairly resistant to oxidation/etching...whereas the steel may darken. But I could be wrong...I just know that vinnegar can etch metal turning it black, until it's polished/cleaned.

[Hibernicus]

Or try buffing it with a piece of wool cloth.

[Marcus Julius]

Best way I've found to clean maille, is to put it in a bag with chaff and shake it up. Much better than any chemical method. Acids will oxidize your steel, if you're not careful. With chaff, if you don't get it all cleaned off, your only drawback is that it's dusty.

If you don't have a place to get any chaff (ie a local grain farm) you can get commercially available materials from a sporting goods store. Look in the ammunition reloading area for brass polishing media. There are typically two types available, ground corn cob, or ground nutshells.

[Memmia]

Hi, vinegar should be OK as long as it isn't left on there to dry. It shouldn't be acidic enough to attack it if only left on for a few minutes.
Although as the others on here stated, try a physical method of cleaning first.

[M. Demetrius]

If it does end up dusty, please don't wash it with water...not much good will come of that.

Also, you can just put it on and wear it for a while, making sure you do some body movement, and it might clean itself. It will put ick on whatever is under it, though, so keep that in mind.

[Aetius Helvius Merula]

Hi, vinegar should be OK as long as it isn't left on there to dry. It shouldn't be acidic enough to attack it if only left on for a few minutes.
Although as the others on here stated, try a physical method of cleaning first.

Yeah, I learned about this the hard way . Took it out of the vinegar, hosed it off till the water ran cleanly off the mail, then not knowing better put it in the sun to dry. Turned all orange in a few minutes. Not doing that again! Must accelerate the process of oxidation when you do that. I've tried the sand/barrel method, I think I didn't roll it around long enough. It did leave it dirty, but I brushed it off really well. I like the chaff idea, thanks Marcus!

On the bright side, the tinned studs and hooks didn't suffer :lol:

[M. Demetrius]

I have done exactly the same thing. Bummer! I used carburetor cleaner to take off the rust, then some WD 40, then hit it with a propane torch to darken it some (not all the way black). Dry. Works fine now.

No, no, no, don't dry it from water in the sun. It adds hours and hours of work. I suppose I could have burned the rust off with a torch, but it seemed kind of risky to me.

Wait! I know, you heat it with the torch, then quench it in water to harden it! :roll: Don't.

[Magnus]

Once you soak it in vinegar, the acid needs to be neutralized...windex with ammonia usually works. After that...well, i'd just wipe it dry with a rag, or blow dry it with a hair dryer.