Caustic soda
sing
is it for removing shellac from the ring?
thank you
Darkside
"sing" <bf...@ahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f4vrgtk3q500q92r9...@4ax.com...
> Can someone tell me what is the use of the cautic soda?
> is it for removing shellac from the ring?
>
> thank you
Well round these parts you use it for unblocking loos and drains, extremely
dangerous, if you mix it with other chemicals and light a match, i have the
pleasure or not of seeing a young man, who did just that and recieved 3rd
degree burns,while in a Jamaican hospital once.
Not a good thing.
Be careful
Simon
ps never used it in the trade if you want to remove shellac, from a ring,
i/we use neat meths,trik, to remove quickly place jewellery in cup of meths
etc, then place the cup in a pot of boiling water and wait a few mins, hey
presto its all gone.
Radagast
> is it for removing shellac from the ring?
>
> thank you
Personally, I would try a little paint thinner or acetone to see if
you could dissolve the shellac. If that doesn't work then you could
use a little spray oven cleaner (basically caustic soda in a can) so
you don't have to mix it yourself. DON'T place it on an aluminum pan
while you do this, or you will find that sodium hydroxide (chemical
name for caustic soda) loves to dissolve aluminum. Added heat will
accelerate the shellac breakdown, but also makes the caustic more
aggressive. Always wash well afterwards, with a vinegar chaser to
neutralize any residual hydroxide.
SAFETY CONCERNS:
Needless to say sodium hydroxide,
whether it comes from a can of drain cleaner or a spray can of oven
cleaner is exceedingly dangerous, especially to the eyes. Getting it
on your skin will potentially cause a burn, but washing it immediately
will prevent a serious burn. The eyes, on the other hand, are damaged
much quicker than skin and when your eyes are full of caustic soda it's
hard to find the water faucet and a lot more intensely painful.
Regards,
Glenn
"Understanding is a three-edged sword."
Peter W. Rowe
rada...@mindspring.com (Radagast) wrote:
>>sing <bf...@ahoo.com> wrote in message
>>news:<f4vrgtk3q500q92r9...@4ax.com>...
>>> Can someone tell me what is the use of the cautic soda?
>>> is it for removing shellac from the ring?
>>>
>>> thank you
>>
>>Personally, I would try a little paint thinner or acetone to see if
>>you could dissolve the shellac. If that doesn't work then you could
>>use a little spray oven cleaner (basically caustic soda in a can)
[snip]
To remove shellac from a ring, use denatured alcohol, (ethanol). In hardware
stores, it's often labeled and sold as shellac thinner, and is the best solvent
for shellac. A quick tip: Put some alcohol in a jar, or even a ziplock bag,
and put the jewelry in it, and suspend the jar in your heated ultrasonic cleaner
(with the ziplock, leave plenty of air too, include the jewelery, and just float
the bag. If there is enough air, it will just float in the ultrasonic cleaner).
The combination of alcohol, and a heated ultrasonic, will remove shellac very
quickly.
(paint thinner or acetone don't work well with shellac, though they're fine
solvents for other things one might encounter.)
Caustic soda is not effective at removing shellac from a ring if the shellac is
properly used and applied (not burned). While it will, eventually, remove
traces of shellac if you wait long enough, and use it hot, by the time it
removes it, the alcohol will have done the job several times over. However,
caustic soda IS an effective way to remove various grease/oil/dirt buildups from
jewelry, often before repairing older jewelry. Use it, as has been noted, with
considerable care, and good ventilation. The oven spray is often even more
effective than plain caustic soda, since it will contain a few other minor
componants that accelerate or compliment the action of the caustic soda. But as
a spray, you need to be even more careful in applying it since the fumes are
really nasty on the lungs. Some old time jewelers, especially before the use of
ultrasonic cleaners, used caustic soda in a moderately strong (not very strong)
solution, just simmering below boiling temp, as the means to remove polishing
compounds. It's quite effective at this, and safe for some of the materials
which cannot withstand ultrasonic energies. And this "boilout" pot will also
prove moderately effective at cleaning out the black burned on residue that
results if you get a ring too hot that has NOT been properly cleaned before
hand. It won't, of course, help the diamonds that actually got burned as a
result (if any) but if they are just blackened from the burned residues
underneath, then boiling (or rather, not quite boiling) caustic soda solution
will clean it sometimes better than an ultrasonic cleaner will.
Hope this helps.
Peter Rowe