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Tips, Techniques, and Questions -- Technical questions or tips

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  #1  
Old 2008-05-30, 10:14pm
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Default cleaning Key beads

OK I have been experimenting with some keys. They came out great! I have a few that I have cleaned and look great, but the process is kindda tedious, how do you do it? Am I wasting my time in places... this is what i do:

*get rusty keys
*soak in CLR to remove excess rust
*rinse well and dry
*clean w/dremel, or not (at this point I have dremled a few with brass wheel brush to see if it makes a difference.. I think it depends on the keys but I think it helps before hand to get as much rust off as possible)

~make bead~ (you know that part)

*then dremel to polish and remove any other rust, usually with 2 different brass brush attachments. This is extremely time consuming...

I have heard that you can tumble them to clean them with sand. Do I have to put soap and or water in the tumbler with them? (or just sand???) how does that work???

I have alot of silver glass reduction beads on my keys, and have to be careful with the dremel that I don't dremel the bead and remove the shine.
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  #2  
Old 2008-05-30, 10:31pm
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I bought a huge lot of very rusty keys. I put about 6 or 7 at a time in my wimpy little tumbler with a bunch of stainless steel shot (the same shot I use for tumbling silver).

This will take all of the loose rust off but leave the patina. I tried the hand cleaning method first - it was way too tedious for me!
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  #3  
Old 2008-05-30, 10:40pm
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will this work after I put the bead on to polish it up?

(also what is this "shot" you speak of.. i have general knowledge but how small /or fine grit so to speak are you using) I don't have a tumbler yet... was gonna see of the daycare kids had one to borrow to see if the sand thin worked before I bought one.
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  #4  
Old 2008-05-31, 9:06am
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Shot is little bits of stainless steel used for polishing silver. It varies in shape - some is round some looks like little cones some is thin. This is so it can get into odd shaped things. It can be purchased at places like Rio Grande, Delphi Glass, A Whole Lotta Whimsey - anyplace that sells jewelry making supplies.

I know people who tumble their silver jewelry with lampwork so it should be OK to tumble the key with the bead on it. I forgot to mention that I do add a drop or two of Dawn dishwashing liquid to the tumbler.

Hope this helps!
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  #5  
Old 2008-05-31, 9:20am
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I tried it the other day - put my finished keys (minus all the
bead release I scraped off) into the tumbler for about 30 minutes.
They came out nice and clean. After that, I put on
a bit of renaissance wax to keep them nice looking and prohibit
rust.
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  #6  
Old 2008-05-31, 9:24am
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wonderful!

*scurries off to get supplies*
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  #7  
Old 2008-05-31, 1:01pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Karen Hardy View Post
I tried it the other day - put my finished keys (minus all the
bead release I scraped off) into the tumbler for about 30 minutes.
They came out nice and clean. After that, I put on
a bit of renaissance wax to keep them nice looking and prohibit
rust.
I use the renaissance wax to finish mine also
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  #8  
Old 2008-05-31, 1:05pm
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Default More rust questions

I was able to pick up a HUGE box of metal letter stamps/punches.

My problem is that they are all very rusty. Does anyone know an easy/quick way to get the rust off. They are WAY too heavy to tumble. I'm also wondering if the renasaince wax would keep them from rusting again, or is there something else that would work.

I've had them for a couple of years and there they sit, unable to be used.

I'm hoping someone will chime in here.

Thanks,
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  #9  
Old 2008-05-31, 2:39pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Deb Hopeful Journeys View Post
I was able to pick up a HUGE box of metal letter stamps/punches.

My problem is that they are all very rusty. Does anyone know an easy/quick way to get the rust off. They are WAY too heavy to tumble. I'm also wondering if the renasaince wax would keep them from rusting again, or is there something else that would work.

I've had them for a couple of years and there they sit, unable to be used.

I'm hoping someone will chime in here.

Thanks,

I did some research when I first started cleaning my keys by hand. The suggested way to remove the rust was to use an olive oil and salt mixture.
It does work but it's messy. You really have to scrub to get the rust off.

I would think the wax would work but because you are using the stamps or punches it would eventually wear off. But then you could just wax them again.
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  #10  
Old 2008-05-31, 4:42pm
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Thanks Mary Beth.

I think the main problem was that they were kept in a garage and probably were around lots of moisture. If I could just get them clean. Maybe I will try and get a few cleaned, waxed and see if they will stay rust free.
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  #11  
Old 2008-05-31, 4:50pm
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Once you get the rust off you can just rub them with a little oil too. Believe it or not, I use olive oil. Good for things other than just cookin'.
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  #12  
Old 2008-05-31, 4:54pm
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Wonder if this would work for me?

http://www.therustdoctor.com/index.html
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  #13  
Old 2008-05-31, 4:58pm
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http://www.theruststore.com/Evapo-Rust-Gallon-P1C1.aspx
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  #14  
Old 2008-06-03, 1:02am
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OK update:
I put some in a chepo rock tumbler as a test for about 2 hours and they are pretty as ever! They went in with sand (fake painted sand i might add..lol) and a drop of dish soap. pre-bead and finished, both were great! I peeked after an hour, and am figuring with my limited access testing supplies I needed more time, but it is an overall SUCCESS!!!
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  #15  
Old 2009-05-31, 10:53pm
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That's it! Now I need a tumbler! LOL
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  #16  
Old 2009-06-02, 5:03am
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Wow, I just bought some keys at the antique market on Sunday. They didn't look rusty or dirty so I just wiped them off with a towel and went right at them with my glass. No bead release. I was happy with the result but don't know how much of this I really want to do.
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  #17  
Old 2009-06-02, 7:48am
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This has been quite informative, and I've been thinking about doing this, too. (Gotta find some keys, first, though.) But I have to ask, how (with what) do you hold the key when making the bead? And if you don't use bead release, isn't the bead permanently stuck (not necessarily a bad thing )?
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  #18  
Old 2009-06-02, 8:58am
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You might want to check out a very related thread:

Easy trick for removing rust from skeleton keys
tracidawn78 | 2009-05-20, 8:36pm

and a couple of other recent ones. Someone posted a pic that happened to show the tool she uses for holding the key.

If you don't use bead release, your bead could very easily break. Metals have far greater rates of expansion and contraction than glass, more so than accidentally mixing, say, 104 COE glass and 33 COE glass.

Linda
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Old 2009-06-02, 9:48am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Renee View Post
This has been quite informative, and I've been thinking about doing this, too. (Gotta find some keys, first, though.) But I have to ask, how (with what) do you hold the key when making the bead? And if you don't use bead release, isn't the bead permanently stuck (not necessarily a bad thing )?
I hold the key with a long pair of straight hemostats. I got them for around $2 at harbor Freight.

Yes, if you don't use bead release, the bead will be stuck. Some people like it that way. I prefer to use bead release and have a loose bead on the key.
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Old 2009-06-02, 4:38pm
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I'll chime in on this one....I have used Naval Jelly to remove rust. Like screws stuck due to moisture ( I had thumb screws on the windows of the bathrooms as a theft deterrent) it's caustic so you have to wear gloves and just paint it on, it's thick but it works great...just takes maybe 5 minutes then you wash it off good using detergent in your water. You have to be careful where you dispose of the rags. I know it may not be a real "green / ecco" solution. But I will tell you it works great.
Just thought I would share info
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  #21  
Old 2009-06-03, 10:19pm
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Thanks, Barbara & Linda.
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  #22  
Old 2009-06-04, 5:44am
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My husband took one of my old slightly bent mandrels, slid a hinge on the end, then a bolt with a wing nut holds the key on it. I'm putting bead release on mine..and we're using other bent mandrels that we REALLY bent up for them to hang on to dry the bead release.
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  #23  
Old 2009-06-12, 10:37am
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I'n sort of confused of how you clean the bead release off the inside of the bead or if you just leave it on the bead on the key.
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  #24  
Old 2009-06-12, 10:43am
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I used my dremel on the first one, but broke the tip off the bit. I'll just use some pipe cleaners (for pipes not crafts) probably next time, or a hand reamer.
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Old 2009-06-13, 3:48pm
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I used another glass rod and just puntied up to the end of the key. After everything cooled down, I just knocked the glass off the key.
I think the next keys I work with, I guess I'll use release and see how that goes.
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  #26  
Old 2009-06-15, 4:25pm
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Well I've been doing key beads for awhile. I've cleaned them and have not. I really prefer (and so do my customers) the rusty ones. Also, I do not use bead release. I see no benefit to using it either because the bead slides down to the end of the key and that's not necessarily where I want it to be.
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