Vinegar 1002 Practical Uses

[Luke H]

A use of vinegar missed out of the popular book is cleaning cap badges!

My new 3rd Birmingham Pals looked near relic condition from corrosion and staining but the below alchemy soon revived it to former glory and halted corrosion that would eventually damage the badge.

My method…
1. wholly submerge the badge in distilled vinegar for 0.5-1hr.
2. apply washing up liquid to old toothbrush and scrub badge.
3. rinse under tap continuing to rub with toothbrush.

Repeat above until corrosion / heavy tarnish is gone or at desired level.

*** Be very careful not to leave the badge too long in the vinegar ***

4. finish with a rub brasso again using toothbrush, rise well and dry throughly*.

*I use a hairdryer and get the badge piping hot. Finally buff with a cotton bud.

[Markus Bodeux]

Congratulations, an amazing result.
Do you know what percentage of acetic acid your vinegar contains? I suspect this method is not possible on badges that are gold or silver plated, only if the surface of the badge is also the base metal.
I want to try it with my heavy patinated Royal Warwickshire from WWI.
Thanks for the informations,
kind regards
Markus

[49lassiepen]

Luke can't be genuine to clean looks amazing museum standard ,but wait for the back lash from the keep the dirty/patina /genuine corrosion brigade
David

[magpie]

As the badge was in Sh1t order as my dad would say then it's just made it look pleasing for display.

[cbuehler]

It looks much better now. With better storage, it will also acquire a more pleasing patina over the years as well.

CB

[Luke H]

Many thanks everyone.

Markus I’m afraid the bottle doesn’t state the concentration. Best I can say is it’s just a bottle of Marks & Spencer clear distilled vinegar. The cynic in me suspects that regardless of supermarket brand or price I’d wager it all comes from the same factory and is relatively similar concentration.

[Markus Bodeux]

Thanks Luke,
i have found this information about Marks & Spencer vinegades - and that its very good to fish and chips
"White vinegar is grain based and distilled malt vinegar is barley based. White vinegar contains more acetic acid (up to 10%). Distilled malt vinegar has a lower acetic acid content level (less than 4%). White vinegar is far stronger than distilled malt vinegar"
So as i am a pharmacist and have all kinds of acids in store, i will try first to use a solution of 3 % acetic acid.
Regards
Markus

[Luke H]

Ah, well done finding out the info. Very true it’s always good to start lower % then work your way up depending on results.

Prior to being brave enough to use the neat distilled stuff I used to use old pickle vinegar figuring that must be more dilute. But, I ended up with a lot of leftover and inevitably dry cornichons and onions.