Hi:
I have a beast of a cast iron double sink, probably over 60 years old, which I am reusing. I plan to reuse the baskets, too (no reason not to; they are brass and cool-looking).
However, they have a lot of petrified plumber’s putty around them. Yes, I can chip it off, thread by thread, but I would much rather wipe it away. Does anybody know what will dissolve this?
Thanks a lot.
Musashi
Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.
-Groucho Marx
-Groucho Marx
Replies
Does anybody know what will dissolve this?
I've got some moldy chili in the fridge. Wanna try that?
You can try mineral spirits and acetone, but I think I'd go straight to a paint remover. But try to keep it off of finished surfaces until you know how it will react.
I would try heat.
I have good success with a 5-6" round (flat) wire brush in a drill press, spinning fast. Cleaned lotsa' pipe threads that way.
Forrest
Burn it off. Or use a heat gun.
Thanks for the info.
I applied mineral spirits liberally, then used the wire wheel in the drill press. It got the job done. Didn't even have to take out the torch.
Thanks again.
Musashi
-Groucho Marx
Yes, you're right, not applying the torch to mineral spirits was a good thing :)
I don't know -- it would have made for a good story. Question is whether M would have been telling it or we would have been reading it in the Darwin awards.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
Mineral spirits burns, but MEK REALLY REALLY BURNS!!!!
detenatesLife is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Passing up a chance to play with fire, has to be breaking one or more man laws.
ahyup...Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
I guess you could use solvents and such, after all the stuff is just clay and boiled linseed oil methinks, but I've found it cleaner, safer and faster just to scrape it off older sinks, but nothing of a 60-70 year vintage. Glaziers used to be able to buy a heating tool to cut off old window glass putty, but I ain't met a glazier who ever used one.
pick up a couple or ten of laminate chips from the home despot, break em in half and you got a razor sharp edge which is softer than yer enamel and harder than yer putty.
Methinks that will work cheaply and effectively, certainly worth a try.
Eric
"Glaziers used to be able to buy a heating tool to cut off old window glass putty, but I ain't met a glazier who ever used one."You have now.Cheers,
Ken
Har! Glad to be proven wrong. You is the first glazieroid person I've encountered in 20 years if my (obviously deficient) cabinet making and reno experience who even knew what the hell I I was talking about. But tell me was it last week, last month, last year or last decade.I loves old tools. Thats why I got one of them puppies.eric
Yeah, I was actually talking about a 'putty softener' a week or two ago on a thread here about reglazing, or more precisely de-glazing old windows. I've got an old Fletcher-Terry coiled element hotrod putty burner with genuine solid asbestos heat shields. Yee-haw!
I got a paint hot plate. Big asbestos insulators under the handle to keep you cooler. Works great on old lead paint, really smokes it off!!!
Well kidding a little about the lead pain. It probably is hazardous waste, but I like old tools too. Maybe it should be hermetically sealed in a glass case though.