Posted by Angel on April 04, 2002 at 09:34:05:
In Reply to: cleaning posted by Pam on April 04, 2002 at 06:49:23:
: I am so confused. The artist that taught me stained glass beat in my head....DO NOT CLEAN YOUR PROJECT WITH WARM SOAP AND WATER....all the books that I have on stained glass tell me to wash it with soap and water.
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If only you KNEW all the urban legends about glass cleaning! I clean my finished, foiled pieces with straight, sudsy ammonia (from the grocery store) and a soft brush followed by a Hot water rinse (this neutralizes the flux). Then I wash them in non-oily basic Dawn detergent...again with a soft brush followed by another hot water rinse. I NEVER get oxidation on solder and the foiled projects take a perfect patina. If you choose NOT to patina, the ammonia leaves your solder seams shining like silver.
After my patina is rinsed off well and sits for
12 to 24 hrs, I repeat the ammonia and detergent wash...air dry and polish with a carnuba wax of some sort.
Now, if you want to give that so called "teacher" a heart attack go back and tell him about the ammonia cleaning. The word "ammonia" terrifies the uninformed. The only reason NOT to use it is AFTER you polish because it will remove the wax. It's just a base-neutralizer like the commercial ones....but stronger and better and it DOES NOT harm your solder...or cause corrosion or anything else the old timers will say. Also doesn't precipitate like baking soda....and it's stronger. It prevents all the bad stuff from happening. POUR it on...don't spray it because it's pungent enough without making it into an aerosol.
If you are doing leaded panels, the rules change. They get cleaned pretty well with the whiting used to remove excess cement and you probably don't want to get water down in the came.
The only flux and solder involved is in joining came joints and it's minimal. Gets removed in the finishing process.
Even Plain soap and water is better than commercial neutralizers (which don't have any detergent action to remove the sometimes oily flux film) but any way you do it, you need HOT water and a good wash (ideally preceded by a neutralizer either commercial or ammonia).
I just KNOW that my tombstone will contain the words...AMMONIA and Wet SHOP TOWELS (for wiping soldering iron tips in place of the grungy sponges). These are 2 of my soapbox subjects on forums. Hahaha.