Stem bleach treatment question

[mattnelson23]

I am bleaching a stem, fully submerged in a bowl. How long should I bleach it? I am trying to both de-oxidize as well as sanitize it. Do I just wait until it's black again? If so, about how long should that take if it wasn't super oxidized to begin with? Thank you!

 

[garyovich]

It won't turn it black again. Soaking in bleach or oxyclean solution draws the oxidation to the surface. The whole stem will turn brownish and kind of slimy feeling. I usually soak overnight. Then magic eraser then wet sand then obsidian oil.
Gary

 

[mattnelson23]

Alright. Thank you, gentlemen!

 

[ejames]

It won't turn it black again. Soaking in bleach or oxyclean solution draws the oxidation to the surface. The whole stem will turn brownish and kind of slimy feeling. I usually soak overnight. Then magic eraser then wet sand then obsidian oil.

Yes--it will turn black--if soaked in bleach. Oxyclean will make it slimy.Which IMHO is all it does.

 

[jdto]

I've used Oxyclean to great success on my oxidized stems. It gets slimy, then you rinse it off and sand the surface oxidation away. I usually leave them in for an hour or two, at most. Then I use extra fine sandpaper and a micromesh grit progression up to 12k to get a really nice shine. Bleach has also worked. I haven't really done a comparison to see which I like better.
Here are some stems which I did with Oxyclean, micromesh and then some of Walker's stem polish with a microfibre cloth:

Before

After

A better closeup

 

[fnord]

Matt:
If the stem is really oxidized an overnight soak in bleach should do the trick followed by a lot of elbow grease.
As you can tell from the responses everybody has an opinion and your job will be to figure out which one works best for you.
Be sure and post a pix of how it turned out. (Before and after pix are always the most appreciated.)
Good luck.
Fnord

 

[timely]

First take pipe cleaners soaked in Rum 151 to get most of inner surface grime off, I find this lets the Oxyclean get to the deep oxidation faster, then Oxyclean for 12 hours ( if really bad, will repeat another 12 hour soak ) cover any logos with vaseline prior to soaking, then magic eraser, then work my way down the grades of micro mesh. Finish with obsidian oil.

 

[hfearly]

I only bleach heavily oxidized stems (green all around). If they have markings I cover them first with Petroleum Jelly (Vaseline). I leave them in the bleach bath for 30-60 minutes then thoroughly rinse them under warm water until there is no "slimy" feeling any more. If you then dry the stem it will turn from black to white/brown and feel very rough. From there I sand wet from 400 to 12000 grit in 400 increments and finish off with abolish using Silvo metal polish, then obsidian pipe stem oil, then a coat of carnauba. Usually restores stems to perfect out of the factory glass finish.

 

[kennerth]

I have used Westleys Bleche-white with success. I left it on about 5 min.

 

[doctorthoss]

This is really a pretty simple process. As others have said, bleach will work just fine. Soak the stem in bleach for a few hours, and when you take it out the stem will likely look and feel pretty nasty. Don't be alarmed! Just take a magic eraser (I've even had success with Brillo pads) and scrub the heck out of it for a few minutes. The oxidation will come off. Rinse the stem in water and then dry thoroughly. After that's done, take a few pipe cleaners soaked in high-alcohol spirits (like Bacardi 151, PGA, or Absinthe) and run them through the stem. Repeat this process until they come out completely clean. Last, polish the stem with extra virgin olive oil and let it dry. Your stems should look good as new after this process!

I also recommend polishing the stems with olive oil every week or two, just to keep them looking good.

Anyway, like I said, this is a pretty simple process once you get the hang of it.

 

[trailspike48]

These old posts help me to clean stems on some ebay estate I bought. I used oxiclean, followed by Bar Keepers Friend and elbow grease, then finished with Mequiar's PlastX that I had left over from cleaning the oxidation of my car headlights. The results weren't as good as the Micromesh pictures but the results were close. And it was done with poducts I had in the house and can be bought locally at the grocery store and auto parts store.