Would someone please explain how pith is used to clean pivot points.

Donald,

After cleaning in your ultrasonic or mechanical cleaner (or by hand), you simply push the pivot carefully into the pith, maybe turning it a couple of times as you do so, to clean off any remaining oil or residue.

This will leave your pivots really clean... hopefully.

Pith acts as a wick and will draw liquids away from the item pushed into it. It also wipes clean the residue left behind from cleaning.

Tim.

Tim,
Thank you very much!

Pith IS great stuff and I always have it on my bench.

Quite often, I'll use it for a quick-clean of a fine screwdriver blade that has picked up some gunk. Same with tweezers.

Anyone who has learned how to properly oil jewels knows what a minute amount of oil is used. If your oiler is even a tad dirty, you will totally contaminate that tiny amount of oil. A quick dip into pithwood insures a clean oiler.

Gotta push-out a jewel? Setting the plate in pith-wood is very quick and handy. The pith will give nicely when you push on the jewel and the jewel will remain, embedded in the pith, rather than rolling onto the floor.

Pith-wood is an essential item on the work bench and it's uses (there are many more) would be a great potential thread!

Peter,

That's right! I use a pithwood button with the center removed as a way to store a balance while the rest of the watch is being cleaned up. I then just put a glass bowl over it to keep the dust away. Much better than resting the pivot on a hard surface and allowing the balance to roll around.

There must be hundreds of uses.

Donald - Your welcome!

Tim.