Having had a lengthy career as a Master Plumber it's no secret to me that bleach, even in a diluted state, atfacks and destroys rubber. Those blue things that people hang in their toilet tanks of earned plumbers millions of dollars in repairs to the rubber flappers and tank bolt gaskets that are made of rubber.
That all being said and with my interest in restoration I am compelled to question why it is suggested that we soak our Vulcanite, (rubber) stems in such a solution? I realize that in the end you end up with a nice clean and shiny new looking stem after some polishing but hasn't there been some lasting and perhaps ongoing damage done to this stem? What other methods are used to clean up a heavily oxidized stem?
That all being said and with my interest in restoration I am compelled to question why it is suggested that we soak our Vulcanite, (rubber) stems in such a solution? I realize that in the end you end up with a nice clean and shiny new looking stem after some polishing but hasn't there been some lasting and perhaps ongoing damage done to this stem? What other methods are used to clean up a heavily oxidized stem?