Hello all, it’s been a while (house move) but back with a vengeance now the dust has literally settled. One thing I’d like to do is clean up the cages on my Bialaddin 300x’s which are covered in verdigris. I’m going to give them a dip in citric acid solution (unless theres a better way) and have bought a bag of citric acid crystals. My question is what quantities do I need of each to effectively attack the verdigris and how long a dip is needed - I don’t want to damage (obviously)… thanks in advance Chris
Citric acid 1 table spoon for 1ltr of water. Heating will speed it up, or be lazy and wait. Electrolysis 1 desert spoon of washing soda to 1ltr of water at 12vdc.
Not very long ! Temperature also speeds up reactions. - if your cages are brass the citric acid will react with the zinc in the brass and leave you with a copper finish. I would put it in, give it five minutes and then a scrub with a toothbrush or similar - then again and so on.
Thank you. One of the 300x hoods is scrap so I’ll test out on that first! Much appreciated wish me luck…
Best to keep an eye on it while in solution and remove the article to check every so often. Quantifying ‘how long?’ ‘what concentration of crystals to water?’ ‘what temperature?’ ‘how does this batch of crystals compare in strength with a batch from another supplier?’ makes an explicit ‘quantity/time/temperature’ formula pretty much impossible.
For steel, “as long as it takes”, but for brass, take it out if it starts to go pink, as you’re leaching the zinc from the alloy. Oh, and don’t put enamelled pieces in acid solutions. Cheers Tony
