# Blue Schwinn Tiger Renovation



## Tyberius (Nov 2, 2018)

Started pulling apart the 1950s Tiger I got as part of a package deal for an old Raleigh. I figured I would begin my training on the suble art of Evaporust and see if I can bring this Tiger back from extinction. I thought I'd start on the chainguard to see how the rust removal goes with the paint. Amazingly, the lower end came apart witout a lot of fuss. I figured there was a pretty realistic scenario where I break or bend something trying to get it apart and it becomes a lawn ornament. 

There was A LOT of petrified grease on the internal bearings and races but that came loose after an overnight soak in some old gasoline. After a dish soap bath, everything went into the Evaporust. I separated the chain guard from the plated pieces in case there was some wierd reaction and McGuyvered a "bin" out of some mylar I had and a cardboard box. Nothing much happened for the first 4 hours. After about 6 hours there was signs it was starting to work but I ended up keeping the parts in for almost 30 hours total.

After re-cleaning in soapy water, into a 170 degree oven to bake (ahh..the smell of fresh bike parts! Pro Tip: Wait until your wife is at lunch or preferably out of the country before using her oven) I used linseed oil thinned about 50/50 with turpentine to seal the metal.

Pictures speak for themselves, I can't believe there was that much paint and chrome under all that crud.

Some learnings:

- Wear gloves and eye protection around Evaporust - it may be nontoxic but it's still an acid, my hands started to get itchy after some exposure
- Evaporust says to use paper towels for large items or pieces sticking up out of the bath, I think the next time I'd use old washcloths, cheesecloth, burlap, etc. The paper towels tended to rise off the surface and started to disentegrate over time. Plus with cloth you can re-use.


- bottle says soak parts for 1-12 hours. Mine took 30. Having a toothbrust and some Scotchbrite pads to give things a gentle scrub seemed to help with really caked on rust.
- the only real loss was the 'Schwinn Tiger' logo on the chainguard. There wasn't a lot there to begin with but it was the first to go. I think with painted stuff you need to check in on it from time to time. When I felt the pinstriping was starting to erode I pulled the chainguard out and washed it. 

Anyway, this will probably be a start and stop project but I am encouraged by the initial results. I was going to name this bike "Rusty" but who knows, might need a new name.


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## GTs58 (Nov 2, 2018)

I remember this one. Good start on the resurrection, but you said it might be a start and stop project. It will definitely need lots of love from someone who really cares about her. 

A nice shot in the daylight.


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## Skiptoothgrin (Nov 3, 2018)

Now that IS a project. Looks like Evaporust will be on my shopping list. I'll  be following this thread and eagerly awaiting the resurrected beauty.


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## Tyberius (Nov 8, 2018)

Thanks- I think the only thing I'm not totally happy about is the fact that there's bare steel down in the deep crevices. I deliberately did the chainguard first thinking that if things went south, that's a replaceable item. If I had to do over, I probably would have pulled it out sooner to leave some of the brown rust. I've ordered some gun barrel browning solution that I'm going to try to re-patina some of that silver that's showing. I'll try a small spot on the back and see if its worth pursuing. 

There's a good short article here on mild acid (Evaporust) vs. WD40 and steel wool.

https://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/2015/08/removing-rust-from-fenders-oxalic-acid.html

This bike is so corroded I feel I've got to use evaporust to cut through the worst, I just don't want to completely strip away the patina that's taken 50 years to develop.





Skiptoothgrin said:


> Now that IS a project. Looks like Evaporust will be on my shopping list. I'll  be following this thread and eagerly awaiting the resurrected beauty.


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## Rivnut (Nov 8, 2018)

Skiptoothgrin said:


> Now that IS a project. Looks like Evaporust will be on my shopping list. I'll  be following this thread and eagerly awaiting the resurrected beauty.



Molasses is a lot cheaper.  One part molasses to nine parts water.  Look for videos on YouTube.


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## GTs58 (Nov 8, 2018)

OA all the way! Cheap, quick and does the job.


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## SirMike1983 (Nov 11, 2018)

Cold bluing is an option to fill the gaps, as is browning. The issue is that many of the brown treatments (say, Birchwood Casey Plum Brown) is that they require a fair amount of heat to get the brown. Maybe there is a cold browning now - something to look into. But be careful if you do a heated browning treatment because you don't want to toast the paint.

Another option, given the condition of this bike, is to treat the entire thing consistently with the chainguard you've done, and then see how it all looks. It may be that if the condition of the bike is consistent throughout (even if you have the bare metal spots), it will look presentable for your purposes. Even with the bare spots, I think that chain guard worked out really well, considering the condition you started with.


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## KingSized HD (Nov 12, 2018)

How about naming it “Crusty”, that stuff is heavy!
I agree with @SirMike1983; given the crusty starting condition what you ended up with is really good.  
I have this Memorylane waterslide guard decal I never used on a past project that I’ll send to you for your efforts, gratis. PM me with an address if you’d like it.


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## Tyberius (Nov 12, 2018)

Thanks *SirMike1983* and *KingSized HD for the input and the kind offer of the decal - *definitely take you up on that! 

I bought a small bottle of a cold browning solution from MSM (via eBay) and tried it. Not gangbusters but its working...slowly. I've re-applied about 3 times and it's at least turned things from shiny steel to a dull light brown. They say you may need to reapply to even perfectly clean steel - I don't think I was able to get all of my linseed/turpentine mix off despite a couple good dishsoap washings which may explain things. I may give it another wash and try again. Anyway...I think between pulling things out of the Evaporust earlier and maybe some post-treatment I'm hopeful the results will be closer to what I want. 

This bike is sort of hard one to figure out what it want it really want to be.








SirMike1983 said:


> Cold bluing is an option to fill the gaps, as is browning. The issue is that many of the brown treatments (say, Birchwood Casey Plum Brown) is that they require a fair amount of heat to get the brown. Maybe there is a cold browning now - something to look into. But be careful if you do a heated browning treatment because you don't want to toast the paint.
> 
> Another option, given the condition of this bike, is to treat the entire thing consistently with the chainguard you've done, and then see how it all looks. It may be that if the condition of the bike is consistent throughout (even if you have the bare metal spots), it will look presentable for your purposes. Even with the bare spots, I think that chain guard worked out really well, considering the condition you started with.


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## Sven (Nov 12, 2018)

outstanding results


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## Brutuskend (Mar 3, 2019)

GTs58 said:


> I remember this one. Good start on the resurrection, but you said it might be a start and stop project. It will definitely need lots of love from someone who really cares about her.
> 
> A nice shot in the daylight.
> 
> View attachment 894230



WOW, that is one crusty kitty!


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