Barley Nectar
875 posts
Aug 05, 2015
4:25 PM
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Edit
An old friend stopped by and gave me his harps. Among them were two pretty decent GM's. These play well enough but the covers have some light rust and pitting. Not real bad by any means. I see some of you fellows clean these covers up beautifully. So, what do I use to make these babies shine?. This is one of the reasons I went to LO's many yrs ago, rusty Hohner's! Thanks...BN
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Harpaholic
724 posts
Aug 05, 2015
5:01 PM
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Barley, I've used Nevr Dull wadding on some rusty mouse ear MB's with good results.
For the tougher areas I used mild abrasive polising wheels and a Dremmel.
Then finished with a 6" wheel and polishing compound. They turned out great!
I'm now curious to know what others use?
Last Edited by Harpaholic on Aug 05, 2015 5:14 PM
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barbequebob
2994 posts
Aug 06, 2015
10:39 AM
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Those are the older versions that have cover plates made of hardened steel and are nickel plated. An old chromatic guy many years ago turned me on to an old German automotive silver polish called Happich Simichrome and that shines up nickel plating better than anything I've ever come across. It's harder to find now, but you can get in some old school automotive parts stores that tend to cater more to commercial customers rather than retail customers (which means forget the retail chains like Auto Zone and Advance Auto Parts for this stuff), or better yet, automotive parts stores that cater mainly to body shops.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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Kingley
3903 posts
Aug 06, 2015
10:52 AM
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Get some Autosol. That should bring those covers right up. You could also try the old trick of rubbing them with aluminium foil dipped in Coke. Either method should polish them up pretty good and remove the rust.
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florida-trader
745 posts
Aug 06, 2015
11:27 AM
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Basically, there are two ways to clean almost anything - perhaps especially metal. Chemical or physical. You can use a chemical to dissolve away or neutralize the rust or you can use good old fashioned elbow grease and sand it or grind it off.
Vinegar - in particular Apple Cider Vinegar - is a good rust remover. Soak the covers in some vinegar for an hour or two and the rust will come right off. On the physical side, I've used the little copper wire bristle Dremmel bits to remove rust. I've used the tiny buffing wheels with some jeweler's rouge. It depends on how extensive the rust is. It's probably only on the inside of the draw cover. Is that right?
Finally, if the rust is deep, when you remove it, you will probably remove some of the plating and even though it might be shiny, it will be exposed metal which will rust again very quickly. You have to seal the metal again to protect it from moisture. I have used paste wax to create a thin protective layer. If it is on the inside of the harp it won't wear off because you don't touch that part of the cover. I've also used food grade silicone spray - the kind they use on meat slicers and mixers etc. That also puts a thin protective coating on the metal that will inhibit rust but not affect the tone of the instrument.
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Tom Halchak
www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
Last Edited by florida-trader on Aug 06, 2015 11:28 AM
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florida-trader
746 posts
Aug 06, 2015
2:15 PM
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Gipsy - you could do that too - and I do. But it's not necessary.
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Tom Halchak
www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
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STME58
1422 posts
Aug 06, 2015
11:31 PM
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Funny Simichrome polish was mentioned here. I was just looking for my tube to polish up a used sax I just bought for my son, but alas, it is gone. Now I need to figure out where to get some more. I used to get it from a bicycle shop. It works very well on brass and aluminum too.
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JimInMO
109 posts
Aug 07, 2015
5:09 AM
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I recently got a tube of Semichrome from Amazon. It was about $9.00 but will last a long time.
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florida-trader
747 posts
Aug 07, 2015
6:47 AM
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I looked up both Semichrome and Autosol on eBay and Amazon. They are both readily available. Both about $9.00 a tube. I bought a tube of Autosol because it comes in a 3.3 oz tube whereas the Semichrome is about 1.7 oz or something like that. Assuming they are comparable products (perhaps not true) you get twice as much bang for your buck on the Autosol. FWIW
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Tom Halchak
www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
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barbequebob
2996 posts
Aug 07, 2015
8:49 AM
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Simichrome was recommended to me by the late Dick Farrell, who used to have a mail order harmonica store called F&R Farrell, and they were the single best place to buy chromatics for both stock and price and some handy harp tools as well.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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Barley Nectar
878 posts
Aug 07, 2015
8:25 PM
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Thanks guys, I have used Simichrome in the past on motorcycles. Also a few of the other suggestions. If Farrell recomended it, that is good enough for me. I like the wax idea also but wonder about putting all this stuff in my mouth. Thanks for the tips...BN
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florida-trader
748 posts
Aug 07, 2015
8:54 PM
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Ever eat an apple? It is covered with wax. I wouldn't worry about it too much.
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Tom Halchak
www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
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Barley Nectar
879 posts
Aug 08, 2015
7:05 AM
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Wow, nice job guys. Thanks...BN
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barbequebob
2997 posts
Aug 10, 2015
11:16 AM
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One tip I should mention that I got from former Hohner product manager Rick Epping during the mid 90's was that before you use any chrome polish or any metal polish, to get the great amount of rust removed first, go to an automotive parts store and get some automotive naval jelly (often just plain called rust remover) and you can get it at parts stores that are either retail customer orientend, wholesale oriented (those selling to garages, dealerships, professional mechanics, etc.) or better yet automotive body shop specialist stores and then carefully brush it on the covers (obviously, remove the covers FIRST), let it dry for roughly no more than 2 minutes and then carefully rinse them with some cold water and then get a lint free paper towel and pat it dry (remember: DO NOT get cheapie brands because they have a tendency to leave tons of lint, which you don't want to be breathing in anytime soon), and then apply the polish. I used this many years ago to help restore a pre-WWII Hohner 365 in the key of C that still plays amazing to this day.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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