In reply to a message from christopher storey sent Fri 4 Oct 2013:
Christopher,
I first came across it in clock and watch repair… The Alum
will only attack Ferrous materials, and leaves Brass/Copper/Al
intact.
With a clock plate it goes a LOT faster, a couple hours will
dissolve a 1mm screw out of a 2mm plate. Also, Brass doesn’t get as
badly discolored, and is easier to clean up with chemistry. (Short
of concentrated Nitric or Sulphuric Acids I tried a large range of
acids and bases to see if I could shift the smut, but nothing
really touched it.)
Andrew–
The original message included these comments:
Very interesting indeed, Andrew . I never knew that Alum would
dissolve iron
–
1968 3.8S
Zurich, Switzerland
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