# Oxalic Acid and Post-War Transfers



## SirMike1983 (Jul 14, 2021)

Has anyone done an oxalic acid soak of an immediate post-war Schwinn lightweight frame? I mean the ones with the large transfers from the 1940s and early 1950s. I'm starting a late 1940s Superior project and it has some of the old, large transfers I'd like to preserve. I'm considering an oxalic acid approach on the frame and fenders to clean this one, but I don't want to harm what's left of these transfers.


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## rennfaron (Jul 14, 2021)

I haven't dipped a whole frame yet. As you know paint holds up well to this. My concern would be that decals all seem to age differently. I recent had a 60s traveler chain guard that looked like it was in good condition but then it got some moisture on it and the decal started to bubble up and peel away. Other decals from the same era held tight even when rinsing, cleaning and applying/buffing wax. I had a '57 traveler decal do the same thing. Some decals seem extremely dry and sun baked and once water hits them they do different things. It seems less about the OA and more about the water. Other ones seem to have cured/aged better and hold on there. 









						OA bath how to?????? NEED help | Classic Balloon Tire Bicycles 1933-1965
					

Is there any harm to doing the process indoors? What's the easiest way to drain it?




					thecabe.com


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## SirMike1983 (Jul 14, 2021)

That's the concern are the chevron type decals and what's left of the seat tube decal. The post-war Superior has some oddball type transfers and there's no way I'd be able to replace them if they came off. The paint seems like it would be OK. There's plenty to do on this one, though I think it will be pretty nice when I'm done. I'll look at the bike a little more and see what I need to do. The paint is decent.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jul 15, 2021)

use rubbing compound on the paint and rub around the decals. that's what I did here. better have an extra 10 hours if you go this route depending on the paint. this paint was toast, maybe I should have just put butter on it.


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## 3-speeder (Jul 15, 2021)

My 1950 Schwinn World OA bath.  Transfers seemed to come back to life
Last post in this thread:








						Oxalic acid bath before and afters | General Discussion About Old Bicycles
					

that's right. i got some great results on chrome too. yellow crap means you're using an old solution or maybe too concentrated. keep cad stuff out of the ox bath. it will lift cad plating if you are not careful. i hear you on the commercial stuff. i have a bottle of evaprust somewhere here. but...




					thecabe.com
				




Project thread here:








						My  1950  Schwinn  World  Rescue | Project Rides
					

I picked up this bike from a friends massive bike lot buy. See my post linked below. This bike is definitely crusty and needs some serious help but I feel it's  worthy of the effort. I imagine some parts aren't original and I'm not sure what's up with the blue paint on the guard and other spots...




					thecabe.com


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## SirMike1983 (Jul 15, 2021)

Those are pretty good results. Thankfully mine isn't that bad off in terms of paint. I'm considering the OA here because it has some, well what I would describe as, staining on the surface of the decals and the paint in some places. It's a rust or rust-related staining that really doesn't go down much at all (it even doesn't have much of a texture), but is on the surface and distorts the color a bit. Hence I was considering the bath because a relatively short bath would probably just wash away all that staining at once, versus several hours of hand work cleaning it manually.


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## peekywee (Jul 15, 2021)

49autocycledeluxe said:


> use rubbing compound on the paint and rub around the decals. that's what I did here. better have an extra 10 hours if you go this route depending on the paint. this paint was toast, maybe I should have just put butter on it.View attachment 1446771
> 
> View attachment 1446772



Wow! That came out so beautiful!  Great job! My grandfather would be so impressed!! (his 100th birthday would have been tomorrow)


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