When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Oxalic acid on pinstripes / decals

#eBayPartner    Most Recent BUY IT NOW Items Listed on eBay
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture

prewarmachine

Wore out three sets of tires already!
I feel like this would be a good candidate for an OA bath, but I've never used it before. The pinstripes seem fairly thin, so I'm trying to preserve what, same goes for the decals. Anyone with experience be able to say if they should be okay, or is a hand cleaning in order? I'd appreciate any help or insight!

20201031_101035.jpg


20201031_101014.jpg


20201031_100959.jpg


20201031_100943.jpg
 
You might want to try wd40 and 0000 steel wool first. I had good results saving the pinstriping on these fenders without taking away all of the patina/rust to bare metal.

b3aec2f4e7ac7c5772103155e15a5d42.jpg

ca42bcd500ed97c411bf87eb23c31864.jpg

af4efa2378a52cf5254f9245695dd70f.jpg


You could always do the OA bath if you didn’t like the results. I was careful not to press too hard on the stripes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I always go with WD and steel wool, and I started in a spot, but the pins are already thin, so trying to make progress on the white without hitting the box pins is extremely tedious. If I run the steel wool over the pins it's removing them :/.
Freqman1, do you cover the decals or prepare them at all, or just throw it in?
 
No steel wool. Never. No Wd 40 if you plan on trying OX later. The Wd 40 will seal the rust and paint and the OX will not work. I've done lots of bikes in OX. Pin stripes will jump out at you. This has been covered in the restoration thread. Read the whole thread before starting on your bike. Look for the post, "Seeing is believing" in the Restoration Thread
 
I think it also depends on what look you're going for. I've seen some amazing before/after OA projects and others that looked either chalky or too clean but in my case I didn't want to get rid of all the patina, just remove the haze and make the original pins visible again.

This kind of lays out the differences I'm talking about:


That said, ymmv so tread lightly and good luck!
 
I like the results that WD40 and 0000 steel wool does. Some of the oxalic acid results seem too clean or almost purified I suppose. That's why I had to try my normal method first in a small sample size spot. The oxalic acid on a white bike, I feel could hide the super cleaned look if it ends up that way and save me countless hours of careful scrubbing around faint box-pins.

The tinker, is there a particular reason you say no steel wool? It seems like a very commonly used product in this hobby. I'm open to any alternative methods. I just want to preserve these bikes as best as I can learn how.
 
Steel wool no matter what grit cleans by scraping/scratching the object and I personally wouldn't use it on old pins, screenings and decals.
 
That does make sense. And for pins and decals, I've had to avoid them with the wool. I've been switching to bronze wool as a softer, less abrasive material, but beyond chemical striping/bleaching and wool scratching/scraping, what else can be done to clean these? Or are those really the only options?
 
That does make sense. And for pins and decals, I've had to avoid them with the wool. I've been switching to bronze wool as a softer, less abrasive material, but beyond chemical striping/bleaching and wool scratching/scraping, what else can be done to clean these? Or are those really the only options?

What do you mean by chemical stripping? Removing the paint?

I'll suggest making a runny paste with some Bar Keepers friend and brush it on, let it sit for a few minutes then scrub a little with a brush and wipe it off. It does have OA in it and it does remove rust. Search BKF on Youtube.

This vid cracks me up.

 
Back
Top