UBB.threads Forums General Interest Restoration, Conservation, and Maintenance Forum Homemade Sudsy Ammonia- FYI

Here's a recipe for homemade sudsy or "soapy" ammonia. Another member had posted a similiar recipe in the past. In light of recent maint. discussions, hopefully this will be of use.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Soapy-Ammonia-Cleaning-Solution

A favorite cleaning product is "Sudsy Ammonia" - a pre-mixed cleaner readily available in most US supermarkets. It is not readily available elsewhere, or you might not be able to find it. Since "Sudsy Ammonia" is a trade name, this is called "Soapy Ammonia." You'll be able to make gallons of soapy ammonia solution from the one bottle of pure ammonia and save money over the supermarket price. Vary the concentration, depending upon the job. Use it without the detergent for windows instead of brand name window cleaners.

Steps
Locate pure ammonia solution. It's readily available in supermarkets in the household cleaner sections of larger supermarkets in the US. Otherwise, try hardware shops and places that sell industrial cleaners. You will probably want to buy the smallest possible bottle since you won't need a lot.
Use rubber gloves - ammonia can burn skin.
Be sure to make your mixture in a well ventilated area and do NOT lean over the bottles while you are pouring.
Organize this task so that you will be pouring over a sink just in case there is any dripping.
Use an clean empty plastic bottle (about 12 ounces). (Old spray cleaner bottles are great, for example, Windex. Be sure any old product is completely gone.)
With a steady hand, pour about a third of a cup of ammonia into the bottle.
Add a 1 - 2 teaspoonsful of dishwashing liquid.
Fill the remainder of the bottle with water.
Shake.
Write "Soapy Ammonia" on the bottle with the indelible marker. Consider adding "POISON" and keep the mixture, along with the bottle of pure ammonia out of children's reach.

Additionally, I gave the concoction a spin this morning. The results were quite positive.

Remember, in terms of the gilt, whats gone is gone. However, the underlying brass was given a nice clean sheen, i guess in many ways what would be the end result of Semichroming. The saber hilts that were 50/50 for gilt, the results were fantastic.

I tested the sudsy ammonia on grip wire, and I still believe better results can be achieved with utilizing the Semichrome. Just be careful and take you time.

I'd reccommend it.

I go through about 3 to 4 Gallons of Ammonia a week (Commercial Kitchen) ..the only problem with sudsy Ammonia is , it WILL leave a residue "Film" behind. The more Soap you use , the more film. So be sure to rinse whatever you're cleaning really well ..sometimes that could be harder than the cleaning part of it.

Isn't Windex a form of sudsy ammonia?

Windex would not be considered "sudsy ammonia" from the research I've done. The key ingredient would be a detergent. Hence the dish-soap. The detergent give the mixture a foamy or sudsy effect when applied to the object.

MP, have you found that the filmy reside causes any type of oxodation or degredation? I wonder how critical it is to rinse the object after using the concoction.

Here's a before and after. The photos really don't do a whole lot of justice regarding the end product.

In the 1st photo, the saber was lightly cleaned using another meathod. The 2nd photo illustrates the same saber after the application of the sudsy ammonia. The back-strap really clenaed up after using the ammonia product. I wasn't able to get a better photo as I didn't feel up to opening the display case up and removing the saber for additional photoing.

After sudsy ammonia mixture.

I would try to rinse it off because , I’m not sure what affect (if any) the residue would have in the long term . Maybe the best way would be to moisten a face cloth with the Ammonia/Soap solution and wipe down the parts instead of just spraying & soaking everything down (the Wash cycle) …then dampen another cloth with warm water and wipe everything down again (the Rinse cycle)…then dry it off with a Hair Dryer (low or no Temp).
I hope somebody new to the Hobby doesn’t read this thread and decide to stick his Daggers in the Washing Machine on the Delicate setting.

Could be!!!!!!
Seiler (Yank in UK)

At least don´t take the 1000 tours cycle...

NEVER use dish washing liquid or ammonia containing lemon or lime additives, That IS the corrosive!

I didn't even think of that but , Ed's right ..that would leave a corrosive residue or at least leave a stain.
I remember back in the 60's there was an old time Blade Collector in Town who told me to use straight Coke Syrup to clean up blades ...luckily I thought he was nuts.

If you are trying to remove residure of previous cleanings with stuff like brasso, just use ammonia and a soft old toothbrush toothbrush in a VERY well ventillated place.

Dave

Good information. Thank you all.

Even with the home-made sudsy ammonia concoction, the results were excellent. Next time I will purchase the real deal.

I must say, the mixture did not leave a filmy residue on the hilts.

Good information to know. I'm also rethinking the Semichrome vs. sudsy ammonia for grip wire cleaning. The Semichrome seems to do a better job, but certainly requires more patience and is significantly more time consuming to remove the excess pollish. The sudsy ammonia is much simpler to apply and result are quite good.

I wonder what the ph is of the residue left by the sudsy ammonia? After cleaning with any chemical agent rinsing is imperative.

If you do not rinse clean then you run a risk of later damage from an unforseen chemical reaction.

Often a hilt can be adequately cleaned by just the use of a soft DRY brushing.

If a damp cleaning is necessary I use a soft toothbrush and a little bit of Ivory soap and water being very careful not to wet the wood core of the grip. Ivory soap is apparently ph neutral and rinses off easily without leaving a residue.

Look at it this way, when you take a shower and soap up do you then get out of the shower or do you finish washing by rinsing off? The same applies to any claening of collectables.

Just some thoughts,

Tony

Better watch it when doing this. Just use a small amount.If you get a saber celluloid grip or Army/Luft/Navy grip too wet the wood underneath will swell and then shrink and the celluloid cracks. Never ever hold a grip under running water to rinse. It may not happen right away but the next time you look--there will be that crack.
Also--semichrome will often REMOVE gilt-this stuff won't.

FYI ammonia is or has been linked to cancer. Many workplaces are banning cleaning agents with it as an ingredient.

quote:

Originally posted by Lance:
FYI ammonia is or has been linked to cancer. Many workplaces are banning cleaning agents with it as an ingredient.

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No it is not , Lance ...you must be confusing Ammonia with some other Cleaning Agent.
"Ammonia has not been classified as a human carcinogen. Ammonia is not considered to be an animal carcinogen, ingestion by rats of ammonia as ammonium hydroxide for 2 years did not result in an increase in cancers.

It is unlikely that exposure to environmental levels of ammonia would result in reproductive or developmental toxicity. Data from animal studies show that foetal toxicity or embryotoxicity may occur but secondary to maternal toxicity after very high exposures."
http://www.hpa.org.uk/chemicals/compendium/Ammonia/summary.htm

HAZARD DESCRIPTION: Irritant and corrosive to skin, eye, respiratory tract and mucous membranes. May cause severe burns, eye and lung injuries. Skin and respiratory related diseases aggravated by exposure. Not recognized by OSHA as a carcinogen. Not listed in the National Toxicology Program annual report. Not listed as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

EXPOSURE LIMITS: 50 ppm PEL - Federal OSHA
25 ppm TWA - NIOSH
35 ppm STEL - NIOSH
300 ppm IDLH - NIOSH