Polish

[Kathleen Nickodemus]

Please tell me which is your favorite/most effective polish for a major cleaning?

Kathy Nickodemus

[Alison Pruett]

My group just polished some bells that hadn't seen a cleaning in at least 5 years. We used simichrome with great results.
-Alison Pruett
 

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Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2013 23:23:30 -0500
Subject: [HB-L] Polish
From: kdad...@gmail.com
To: handb...@googlegroups.com

Please tell me which is your favorite/most effective polish for a major cleaning?

Kathy Nickodemus

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[Silver Woodbury]

Anytime you polish handbells, you should use a non-abrasive polish like Simichrome or Flitz.  I’ve tried both and I prefer Simichrome.  Flitz seems to need more “elbow grease” and more second applications to get the same results.  Malmark makes a product called Bell Zest for stubborn spots that can help, but use it very carefully.   I’ve found that it can scratch the finish.  NEVER use something abrasive like Brasso.  To help your polish job last longer, make sure your ringers religiously wipe their bells down after each rehearsal/performance with a treated polishing cloth.  I prefer the Sunshine Cloths because they don’t have all the messy rouge, but the doubled cloths with the red jewelers’ rouge impregnated cloth (like Shino cloths) are the traditional cloth.

 

If you plan to have a “polish party,” I recommend you have one or two people designated to apply the polish.  I find that most people use way too much and slop it up under the disks (collars or handguards).  Also, if you have Schulmerich bells, do not polish the insides of the castings.  It won’t hurt them if you try, but because of the tuning grooves, you will not be able to buff the polish away completely, so they will look hazy on the inside and you run the risk of slopping polish on the yoke mechanism.  If you have Malmark bells and you want to polish the insides as well, the best way to do it is to disassemble the bells, but that’s your call.

 

Have fun!

Silver

 

Mrs. Silver D. Woodbury
Silverbell Enterprises
Regional Independent Sales Representative for Schulmerich Bells
Oklahoma - Kansas - Arkansas - Northern Texas
Authorized Dealer for Murphy Robes in Oklahoma
10012 Carnie Circle, Yukon, OK  73099
405-519-0331 mobile
888-735-5407 toll-free voice and fax
silve...@cox.net or SWoo...@SchulmerichBells.com

 

[Nancy Hascall]

My favorite polish is Met-All Brass & Copper Polish.   It's a lot like Simichrome, and works as well (if not better), but doesn't have nearly as strong an odor.   

We're having a polishing party this Saturday -- complete disassembling & cleaning of our Schullie bells, which we haven't done for several years.   While they're apart we will also polish the insides of the castings -- followed by a good rubbing with terrycloth and dish soap, which does a fine job of removing residual polish from the grooves.   (I've heard lighter fluid works, too.)

Of course it's best never to mess with the insides of any bells without first removing the clappers.

I bought my first tube of Met-All from Gold Coast Music, which is now out of business.   My husband had to hunt for a while to find a source that sold less than a caseload at a time, but finally bought a 16-oz. can online from an airline supply company -- www.skygeek.com

:-)  Nancy

[heather mclean]

We use Malmark polish whicjh we like but, like Silver, I've found that most ringers apply far too much polish unless watched carefully. We take all our bells apart on a regular basis. We have three sets and take them apart in rotation so that one of the sets is checked over for cracking springs, loose fittings etc.about every nine - twelve months. That's the only time we polish the insides.

Our bells are in use a lot. We rehearse every week throughout the whole year, only having a break from Christmas to the middle of January, and we are out ringing a lot, roughly 65 performances each year. Of course that includes solo performances in Dunkeld Cathedral from Easter to the end of September. Two of the sets are made available for ringers to take home if they wish to practise solo ringing and do not have their own bells. The ringers take advantage of this opportiunity and take it in turns to have them at home (on the strict understanding that they comply with the conditions of insurance and return them for the next rehearsal even if for some reason they are going to be absent).

With the amount of use our bells get I feel that they have to have regular maintenance. Our oldest set (all Malmark) is now over ten yeas old and still sounds/ looks like new.

Heather

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[Paul Allen at James Rutter]

I’d like a little more detail on how you “polish the insides” of the bells.  Thanks.

[heather mclean]

Well as I said, we do this when we have taken the bells apart i.e. removed the clapper and all the fittings so that we are left with just the cup of the bell. It's then easy to apply a LITTLE polish to the inside and give it a good rub to remove all the polish. The base of the inside of the bell gets surprisingly dirty and it's impossible to clean there unless the clapper has been removed. When I've been at rallies etc. and used bells loaned by other groups I've actually seen that the bases of some bells are filthy, even green with verdigris sometimes. I wonder if that is caused by people trying to clean the bells without removing the clapper so that they push polish down inside the bell and then can't remove it properly.

 

I'm not an expert on this by the way. Have just attended workshops on maintenance of Malmark bells and try to do as I've been shown. I'm sure someone like Christine Anderson could give you much better advice than I can.

Heather

[heather mclean]

PS We also give the outside of the bells a quick rub over with sunshine cloths at the end of most rehearsals, paying particular attention to marks caused by people coughing, sneezing etc over the bell.

[Paul Allen at James Rutter]

I submit that using polish inside the bell is a bad idea because the polish gets into the grooves and can’t be removed.  I’m intrigued by the idea of using lighter fluid.

[Ann F]

We have Malmark bells, and like Heather, we take them completely apart and polish inside and out with Simichrome - hopefully not too much, though I'm not standing watch over them all the time (but the can of polish lasts several years; so I think the amount is sparing). Then we wash the castings in lukewarm water with dish detergent, dry and reassemble the bell. Taking the bell completely apart also affords a good opportunity to inspect it fully for anything that needs adjustment or replacement. We do this once a year at the end of our season. In between, we wipe them down with Sunshine cloths which we vastly prefer to the cloths with the rouge on the inside.

Ann

**************************************************
Family web site: http://clients.teksavvy.com/~frederking/
2012 Christmas letter - http://clients.teksavvy.com/~frederking/Xmas2012_letter.pdf

Ann's hostas - about 180 varieties, updated for 2012:
http://violaann.smugmug.com/Garden/Hostas/Hostas-in-my-garden-A/7617361_qL3gHS
Ottawa Chamber Orchestra - http://www.ottawachamberorchestra.com/
Emmanubells Handbell Team - http://www.emmanuelunited.ca/worship_renewal/bells.php
**************************************************

[Kathleen Nickodemus]

Thank you all for confirming what I "knew".  I've used Simichrome for decades, but haven't been responsible for the taking apart, cleaning and reassembling of bells for a long time.
Paul, if you have Schullie bells you don't clean the inside.  Malmarks have a polished finish inside just as outside and they need to be done, but taking them apart first makes it much easier to do!
Thanks everyone!
Kathy

[F Simpson]

Ah, but there in lies the rub.

Taking apart a Malmark Bell requires:

[jdm...@aol.com]

Kathy, I would offer a friendly amendment to your reply.

 

It's OK to CLEAN Schulmerich bells, just not to polish the inside. It's a good idea to disassemble the bells, putting the guts into a marked zip-lock bag, and wipe the schmutz from inside. I've also used the duster spray (like what's used on computer keyboards, etc.) to clean off the clapper mechanism.

 

Jeffrey

Atlanta

[Michele Sharik]

My groups always disassemble, then wash & dry, then polish, then reassemble. By washing before you polish, you get rid of dust and other abrasives that may etch the casting when you polish.

After all, you wash your car before you polish or wax it, right?

-Michèle

[Paul Allen at James Rutter]

Thank you, Kathy.  What do you use to clean the inside of Schullies?

[barbara lewandowski]

I thought I would share a source for Simichrome polish. While looking around town for some and coming up empty handed, I thought I'd try one more place and bingo! Harley Davidson! Of course! They have a lot of chrome!!
Barbara
Texas

[Ann F]

I found a local source for Simichrome at an auto detailing place and the price made the Jeffers price look EXCELLENT by comparison.
Ann

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[Mark Arnold]

When I first started directing (more years ago than I care to admit), the
only place I knew of to get Simichrome was the same place I bought my Honda
motorcycle. I was kind of surprised when it started turning up in music
stores - and I do miss the atmosphere of Horizons Honda...

Blessings,
Mark

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From: handb...@googlegroups.com [mailto:handb...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of barbara lewandowski
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2013 4:51 PM
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[Debbie Shaw]

The last Simichrome polish I bought came from Amazon,com

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_9?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=simichrome+polish&sprefix=simichrom%2Caps%2C430

This was the best price I found....

Hope this helps.

Debbie Shaw

--
Debbie Shaw

[Merry Lloyd]

Amazon has the Met-all too.  11.00 I think

merry

Merry Lloyd
Columbia River Handbells
We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust our sails.

http://merry.97048.info

[Karen Eastburn]

 

Kathy,

<not a blatant ad but definitely a product promotion>

Since no one els has mentioned this, I will. I have tried the Blue Magic polish from Malmark and it goes on and comes off well and does a great job of cleaning but is more gentle on castings than others. Be wary of buying the cans of polilsh because it is easy for it to become contaminated with dirt/grit by someone putting a dirty cloth in it - rubbing dirt and grit on the casting may leave scratches.

 

And, I confirm the comment on Bell Zest cleaner also from Malmark. It works well to remove spots but you must you a small piece, rub very gently and follow up with bell polish to remove it. Keep it closed or it will dry out.

 

Malmark is offering polish wipes for bell cleaning now, too. Check them out here: http://bit.ly/VSIkSh

 

Happy polishing!

Karen Eastburn

Plano, TX

(Represent Malmark in TX/OK) 

[Nancy Kirkner]

I like Blue Magic too, and found it at a local auto parts store.  Nancy

[Nicholas Barnard]

Thomas,

Come on. Please don't attempt to incite a Malmark vs. Schulmerich argument. We had a nice discussion several months ago, and I thought we all agreed to understand why others like specific manufacturers.. 

Nick

On Jan 8, 2013, at 11:57 AM, F Simpson <ftsi...@aol.com> wrote:

Ah, but there in lies the rub.

Taking apart a Malmark Bell requires:

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A Shullie:

<Malmark Bell.JPG><Shulmeric Repair.JPG>

[Nancy Hascall]

On Jan 8, 2013, at 12:23 PM, Paul Allen at James Rutter <PAl...@egusd.net> wrote:

I submit that using polish inside the bell is a bad idea because the polish gets into the grooves and can’t be removed.  I’m intrigued by the idea of using lighter fluid.

My husband uses polish only on the stubborn spots on the inside of a bell, then removes it with lighter fluid.   He learned that trick from Monica McGowan.   

I haven't tried lighter fluid yet myself, but several times I have used Simichrome or Met-All on the insides of all my Schullies, and quite successfully removed the residue with mild dish soap and lots of rubbing with terrycloth in the direction of the grooves.  It's hard work, and sometimes you have to "rinse and repeat" to get it all out-- but it's worth the effort when the bells come out looking like new.

:-)  Nancy Hascall