Rottenstone as a useful polishing component

[19and41]

For polishing plastic without the additional chemicals suitable for polishing copper and brass, here is the abrasive ingredient used in Brasso.  One could put it in whatever vehicle one could want, even liquid detergent or oil , even a damp rag.  This would be enough to last quite a while.

Rottenstone, 1 pound size available on Amazon

[TelePlay]

For polishing plastic without the additional chemicals suitable for polishing copper and brass, here is the abrasive ingredient used in Brasso.

This is the abrasive in the "new" Brasso formula, not the old Brasso that is said to work better.

This stuff in stick form is Tripoli used for dressing buffing wheels.



If someone wants this and doesn't have Amazon Prime for free shipping, the same item is available on eBay for $12.95 with free shipping. I just bought one. I want to try this on a couple of things.

     http://www.ebay.com/itm/Behlen-T23433-Rottenstone-1-lb-/281835630991

[TelePlay]

My Rottenstone came yesterday so gave it a test run.

I had a Toaster I got for cheap on eBay that had a badly chipped housing. It was a stage prop for a few years. Finally got around to removing the flat black paint put on it to prevent instrument reflection.

After one coat of primer and 3 coats of baked enamel, I had a good, flat to semi-gloss finish.

I mixed the Rottenstone with Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and applied liberally. The white cotton cloth turned dark grey to black by the time I was done indicating the rubbing compound added to the polish was buffing the paint. Finished working on it with pure Meguiar's and then a thin coat of Renaissance Wax to protect the surface.

It turned out better than expected. From stripping the paint to RenWax took about 3 days.

Only thing I should have done was look for pot metal pimples and bumps to grind them off. I also started with the phone having half its original black paint on it and could have spent more time smoothing out or feathering that paint. Used 320 and then 400 grit to prepare for the primer coat. Before starting to paint, I wiped the housing down with acetone to get all oils off of the housing before priming. Dry sanded with 600 grit between black top coats.

Turned out much better than I expected. Didn't plan on doing a perfect paint job but it came close to 90% perfect.

The point of this is  that Rottenstone powder can be added to certain things to increase slightly the abrasive nature of the product being used. It does not mix with pure water but it does mix with alcohol and liquid polishes. The possible uses of Rottenstone is great and cuts the time needed to do final polishing. Next test will be with Novus on plastic.

[19and41]

Looks Good!

[Doug Rose]

outstanding John....almost impossible to get good original paint on the toasters....nice job!

[TelePlay]

Found another use for Rottenstone.

Was working on an older 500. It had a G1 handset with plastic caps. The caps were difficult to remove (heating and a strap wrench) and even after cleaning, did not want to screw back on more than one turn.

Coated the handset threads with dry Rottenstone (a cue tip works great), sprayed water into the cap and shook the excess out and used the cue tip full of Rottenstone to create a wet Rottenstone mud in the threads.

Threaded the cap on, about half way on the first two or three tries. After that, I rinsed out the cap and put another cue tip full of Rottenstone in the threads, wet mud consistency.

Screwed the cap on and within two or three more tries, the cap went full on and came off just as easily.

Clean off the handset and cap threads and the plastic cap now fits well.

Don't know if it was dirt in the threads or shrinkage. Whatever was causing the cap to bind on the handset, the Rottenstone cut it off or down quite quickly.

[twocvbloke]

Sounds similar to grinding valves in an engine to make them seat better in the valve seat, cleaning off crud that has built up aswell as cutting a new seat (or in this case, a thread) in the mating surfaces...

[19and41]

Looks like plastics will be fertile territory for that handy abrasive. 

[TelePlay]

Looks like plastics will be fertile territory for that handy abrasive.

Found yet another use for Rottenstone.

While working on the sticker topic, I ran into a near rock like hard sticker glue on the top of a 554 housing. Nothing would soften it or remove it.

Found that a mineral oil on a cotton cloth (with a cotton ball inside for support) wet with mineral oil puts a nice coat of oil on the sticker glue. Then added a pea sized lump of Rottenstone, added more mineral oil to the cloth and squeezed the oil soaked ball against the dry ball of Rottenstone, then spreading it around the sticker.

As the mixture began to thicken, added more mineral oil and the sticker came off in about 10 minutes of rubbing with very little to no damage to the ABS plastic housing. The housing actually looked quite good other than the normal wear and tear scratches one would find on a 50 year old housing.

Also used Goo Gone and Dexron III / Mercon ATF instead of the mineral oil but all worked the same. It was the Rottenstone that did the cutting of the sticker glue leaving the plastic untouched. The Goo Gone dispenser bottle worked well to keep the mixture wet while rubbing off the hard glue.

So, as glue on plastic goes, really depends on the type and age of the glue and finding the chemical that will remove the glue quickly without harming the plastic. There is no one solvent for everything when it comes to glue residue removal.

[19and41]

Good work!