# Good candidate for OA Bath?



## Vintagedad (Jan 12, 2019)

I haven’t done an OA Bath yet and am considering doing my first one on this Coppertone Stingray Deluxe. Do y’all think this bike is a good candidate for an OA Bath?  This is what it looks like after some soap and water.


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## tryder (Jan 12, 2019)

The frame but not the chrome.  I would use metal rescue on the chrome.


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## Eatontkd (Jan 12, 2019)

Please make sure you follow-up with progress pics!


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## Vintagedad (Jan 12, 2019)

tryder said:


> The frame but not the chrome.  I would use metal rescue on the chrome.




I’ll have to look up metal rescue as I’m not familiar with it.


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## Vintagedad (Jan 12, 2019)

Eatontkd said:


> Please make sure you follow-up with progress pics!




I will, I’m not sure when I’m going to do it as temperatures have been too low here the last few days.


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## tryder (Jan 12, 2019)

Vintagedad said:


> I’ll have to look up metal rescue as I’m not familiar with it.




They sell it at Home Depot.  It's not cheap.  $25.00 a gallon.  Works great at getting rust off chrome.


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## kreika (Jan 12, 2019)

Evaporust works good too.


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## Autocycleplane (Jan 12, 2019)

OA is fine on chrome. In fact I’m willing to bet the antique bike crowd got the idea from the vintage BMX crowd who had been using OA to clean up rusty chrome framesets for years.


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## Vintagedad (Jan 12, 2019)

Autocycleplane said:


> OA is fine on chrome. In fact I’m willing to bet the antique bike crowd got the idea from the vintage BMX crowd who had been using OA to clean up rusty chrome framesets for years.




I think I’m going to do the whole thing in OA. I’ve actually got an old school BMX bike I need to do too lol. I guess I’ll have to order it online. I went to two stores today looking for it and struck out twice.


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## Vintagedad (Jan 12, 2019)

How do y’all address the wheels? I’m assuming the hub needs to be removed or will it not harm the hub? How about the spokes? I was hoping to avoid having the wheels relaced if possible but don’t want to destroy my hub.


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## tryder (Jan 12, 2019)

Vintagedad said:


> I think I’m going to do the whole thing in OA. I’ve actually got an old school BMX bike I need to do too lol. I guess I’ll have to order it online. I went to two stores today looking for it and struck out twice.




They have it at Ace Hardware.  Ask for wood bleach.


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## Autocycleplane (Jan 12, 2019)

What he said ^

https://www.homedepot.com/p/SAVOGRA...VRCCtBh1JAw9JEAQYASABEgImP_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds


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## Vintagedad (Jan 12, 2019)

Home Depot didn’t have it, the one by me doesn’t carry it in store ‍♂️. The closest Ace hardware is a little bit of a ride so I may just order the powder from eBay. 

Anyone have any suggestions about the wheels?


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## GTs58 (Jan 12, 2019)

Buy the OA online from eBay or Amazon. 5 pounds for less then 20 bucks.  Your local stores will rip you, trust me. 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/OXALIC-ACI...d:g:UEsAAOSwhOVa7ghK:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true

The rims look pretty toasted, but you can soak them in OA and hopefully you won't have to pitch them in the garden. I use OA on chrome and never had a problem.


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## Vintagedad (Jan 13, 2019)

GTs58 said:


> Buy the OA online from eBay or Amazon. 5 pounds for less then 20 bucks.  Your local stores will rip you, trust me.
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/OXALIC-ACI...d:g:UEsAAOSwhOVa7ghK:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true
> 
> The rims look pretty toasted, but you can soak them in OA and hopefully you won't have to pitch them in the garden. I use OA on chrome and never had a problem.




I ordered from EBay tonight 14.95 for 5 lbs of OA. I’m hoping the rims would come clean enough to use but your right they look pretty bad. I picked up a back up set in the event they are too toasted. If not I guess I’ll have a spare set of wheels , which means I’ll eventually need to find something to put them on. Thanks for your help.


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## GTs58 (Jan 13, 2019)

Vintagedad said:


> I ordered from EBay tonight 14.95 for 5 lbs of OA. I’m hoping the rims would come clean enough to use but your right they look pretty bad. I picked up a back up set in the event they are too toasted. If not I guess I’ll have a spare set of wheels , which means I’ll eventually need to find something to put them on. Thanks for your help.




Congrats, you just saved $49.51!! If you purchased the little 12 oz tubs @ $9.67 from Home Depot to equal 5 lbs, the total would be 64.46 plus tax. 
Best of luck with the rims.


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## Rollo (Jan 13, 2019)

Vintagedad said:


> I ordered from EBay tonight 14.95 for 5 lbs of OA. I’m hoping the rims would come clean enough to use but your right they look pretty bad. I picked up a back up set in the event they are too toasted. If not I guess I’ll have a spare set of wheels , which means I’ll eventually need to find something to put them on. Thanks for your help.



... This is the seller that I get my OA from too! ... in fact I just started soaking some  parts today ... 
... I use about a teaspoon per gallon ... or a cup of it with hot water in this pool for a 24 hour soak ...


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## Vintagedad (Jan 14, 2019)

Rollo said:


> ... This is the seller that I get my OA from too! ... in fact I just started soaking some  parts today ...
> ... I use about a teaspoon per gallon ... or a cup of it with hot water in this pool for a 24 hour soak ...
> 
> View attachment 932902




How did they come out?


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## Rollo (Jan 14, 2019)

... The real rusty parts needed longer than 24 hrs ... so I put them in a 5 gallon bucket with a fresh hot water OA soak for another day ...


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## GTs58 (Jan 14, 2019)

Rollo said:


> ... The real rusty parts needed longer than 24 hrs ... so I put them in a 5 gallon bucket with a fresh hot water OA soak for another day ...




My method is to use more OA in the mix and way less soak time. The residue left on the parts is minute.


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## Eatontkd (Jan 14, 2019)

You guys all have me interested in seeing how this all works out for Vintagedad's project. Keep us posted.


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## Vintagedad (Jan 15, 2019)

GTs58 said:


> My method is to use more OA in the mix and way less soak time. The residue left on the parts is minute.




How much per gallon do you put in?


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## Barto (Jan 17, 2019)

So, how do you properly dispose of this?  I live on a Water shed and we all have wells - I don't want to contaminate anything.

Thx,

BART


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## Autocycleplane (Jan 17, 2019)

Barto said:


> So, how do you properly dispose of this?  I live on a Water shed and we all have wells - I don't want to contaminate anything.
> 
> Thx,
> 
> BART




Dump some arm and hammer in there to neutralize it. It’s pretty mild stuff to begin with anyway, I can’t even imagine how much it would take to contaminate your groundwater. As mentioned before, we probably come across plenty more acidic stuff than a properly mixed OA bath in our daily life.


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## vincev (Jan 17, 2019)

Rollo said:


> ... This is the seller that I get my OA from too! ... in fact I just started soaking some  parts today ...
> ... I use about a teaspoon per gallon ... or a cup of it with hot water in this pool for a 24 hour soak ...
> 
> View attachment 932902



24 hours seems way too long to soak.I use 1 tablespoon per gallon and about 7 to 8 hour soak time.


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## OhioJones (Jan 22, 2019)

Getting the ratio right is probably the most important aspect. Make sure you watch for any sort of hew. If you see that remove immediately. Can be a real pain in the a$$ to remove. If your ratio is good you'll be fine. Better to go light as opposed to heavy on the OA. You can always do another bath. Also, i always make sure to rinse and clean the parts off immediately following removal from the bath. I use a little dawn soap and warm water. May not do a whole lot but it makes me feel better. Ha
You're definitely in the right place to receive advice on this topic. A few years ago I had never even heard of OA. Now, I own a kiddy pool, two bags of OA, and several much better looking bikes because of the folks here.


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## Vintagedad (Jan 26, 2019)

Here’s some of my results. I did an initial run with only a handful of parts. I did not want to do the whole frame on my first try and my headset is currently stuck and I’m unable to remove it.

I did about 1 heeping teaspoon per gallon, I used a plastic spoon to measure. After 6 hours with little difference I began adding 2 more about every 2 to 4 hours with the exception of while I slept. Did a total of 24 hours soaking and this was my results. Unfortunately it seems to have ruined the decals on the chain guard. It certainly helped the chrome out a lot though!


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## tryder (Jan 26, 2019)

Looking good.  Is it possible that your oa soak took longer than anticipated because its winter?


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## Vintagedad (Jan 26, 2019)

tryder said:


> Looking good.  Is it possible that your oa soak took longer than anticipated because its winter?




I think it might have, it got pretty cold here at the time. I heated up the water initially but over time it cooled back down.


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## GTs58 (Jan 26, 2019)

Did your solution turn really yellow? 
I usually start out with 1 heaping tablespoon of OA per gallon. No problem doing the OA soak inside the house as long as nobody or thing as in pet will mess with it. The markings on the chain guard is a screening/paint. Is it possible the guard screening is covered with the yellow residue from the solution?


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## Vintagedad (Jan 26, 2019)

GTs58 said:


> Did your solution turn really yellow?
> I usually start out with 1 heaping tablespoon of OA per gallon. No problem doing the OA soak inside the house as long as nobody or thing as in pet will mess with it. The markings on the chain guard is a screening/paint. Is it possible the guard screening is covered with the yellow residue from the solution?




The solution didn’t get yellow but it got cloudy almost is the best way I can put it. I stirred it and wiped the parts down if I saw any yellow crud as much as possible every time I checked on it. You may be right then about the screen print, I’ll have to look at it again tomorrow. If that’s the case I wonder if I can clear it up.

I can’t do inside the house, I have young kids and a dog. I used the garage but it’s not heated.


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## Eatontkd (Jan 27, 2019)

Ok, stupid question time; 
I've been following this thread with interest on the OA outcome. I've never used it, yet. But in the past and as most recent as Thursday, I've immersed parts I want to remove light rust in a White vinegar solution. It seems to work fine as long as I remember to replace my wife's cooking supply! Is OA that much better? Thoughts?


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