A while back, about a month i think.On a Sat night chat in CAT, i was discussing different things about cleaning watches and Aaron mentioned he had good sucess removing corrosion from metal watch parts with tea.
I was wondering if Aaron could say more about this, how long to leave the parts in and how much corrosion could be removed with this process?

Kevin "Veritas" West
IHC Member 261
Chapter 111,Ottawa
NAWCC Member 158976,
Nepean, Canada

Kevin,

I have used this methos with success on a number of occasions. I have sucessfully removed corrosion from hands and steel movement parts this way. I stert out with a batch of really strong black tea. Let it cool to just lukewarm. I have soaked the parts in the tea for as little as 1/2 hour to a few hours. The tannic acid in the tea acts on the oxidation and chemically transforms it back into a iron. The cleaned material dosent magicly stick back onto the parts being treated but it does kill the rust and turn the surface where the corrosion was a light grey color. The end result is much better than the resty look in my opinion. Give it a try and see what works for you. Oh, and as a side note I rinse in Napatha or Denatured Alcahol afterwards to get the tea off.

Any leftover tea goes great with a shot of Irish Whiskey while you are waiting.

Aaron

Thanks Aaron for the info, i don,t have any whiskey but maybe rum would be good.
I have a few movements that need the tea treatment.

Kevin "Veritas" West
IHC Member 261
Chapter 111,Ottawa
NAWCC Member 158976,
Nepean, Canada

I have heard a lot over they years about the various "tea treatments," but that's one thing I've never actually tried myself.

A couple of questions that immediately come to my mind are:

1. What does the treatment do to steel parts that aren't rusty?

and

2. What does it do to blued steel parts, such as hands?

Of course, as always, if anyone can share some images, I'm sure those would be worth a thousand words.

Thanks in advance!

=======================

Steve Maddox
Past President, NAWCC Chapter #62
North Little Rock, Arkansas
IHC Charter Member 49

We could use this watch to see what effect black tea will have. Obviously this movement is trashed but I would like to harvest as many jewels as possible from it.

Bill Cobb had a rusty movement that I soaked in black tea and was able to harvest all the jewels and a few parts.

I will post another picture of this watch following a 24 hour soak.

John D. Duvall
Vice President, Education

John D.
What kind of success did you have cleaning your movement with tea? I have tried small parts, and it seems to do some good. Here is a small part after a little rubbing.

...maybe JD went and drank the tea 'after' the soak......Jim C

Okay, okay, I get the hint. I'll try and post some pictures early tomorrow morninng.

John D. Duvall
Vice President, Education

Before and after a cup of tea. How it will last in time will be the question. Its a Waltham 16Size pocket watch winding part.

Well, things didn't come out too good. I do believe the tea may have help loosen up some of the rust so that I could take the movement down but the small jewel screws still won't budge. They will have to be drilled out if I want any of the plate or balance jewels.

I was able to harvest the roller and pallet jewels. However, I believe all three are chipped. I might be able to invert the roller jewel and use it but it's strength would be questionable.

Oh well, "my" movement timings have been regular since drinking the tea anyway.

John D. Duvall
Vice President, Education

All three are questionable for reuse. I will have clean them first before making a determination.

John D. Duvall
Vice President, Education

As for the remaining steel parts to be removed, DON'T try to drill the screws, etc., just use the old "alum" trick, and that will take care of your remaining problems.

I've written on that subject before, and I'm sure that a "Search" of the old topics for the word "alum," will reveal some appropriate results.

In any event, thanks for taking time to share the experiment!

================

SM

Steve, thanks for reminding us about alum. I had forgotten all about that.

John D. Duvall
Vice President, Education

Where can someone find Alum, i can,t say i have seen it around here.

Kevin "Veritas" West
IHC Member 261
Chapter 111,Ottawa
NAWCC Member 158976,
Nepean, Canada

Kevin,
You can buy it at the supermarket. I think it's used for pickeling. When I first saw what it does to steel, it made me wonder what could it doing to my stomache.
Brian C.

pwpartsetc@pwatch.com

Brian and Kevin- I used to use it for years on shaving cuts; nothing works better,quicker,or cleaner.

I don't know much about pickles...!

If you can't find alum anywhere else,get a shaving "pencil" for cuts. Crush up a bit, and there's your alum!