As a follow on from the first post (part of 1) about the history of my keys and what I wanted to do with them, I want to show the process of cleaning them up a bit, along with the ’finished article’
My last post had some interesting engagement from @pfunk @qwerrie @steevc @killerwot @leaky20 @cathgothard each with something to add about the cleaning process. Lot of insights and suggestions. Thanks guys!
We started by giving the keys a soap bath in warm water.
A lot of general gunk came off. Lots of fluff, hair, dust and grease etc. A fair bit of general orange rust grit came off too. SATISFYING.
With help from the kids, we individually wiped down each key with a wet soapy cloth. This seemed to help remove a lot, and the kids really enjoyed it.
The colour of the water quickly turned a healthy murky brown. A sign we were doing a decent job.
The orange rust colour was staining everything it touched.
But most of that came off in this wash.
With all the keys cleaned up they were separated on to a dry towel and dried. We disposed of the dirty water rather quickly.
Once the tub was clean again we put the keys back in the with the help of my assistants. They had a no stress way of getting them all back in, in one go 😀
Next comes the 4litres of Coke! Minus approx 300ml that the kids took to drinking before it went it 🥴
They got very hands on during this stage 😆
Small hands in sticky sugary Coke. How lovely.
(Good job we were near the sink)
We left the keys to settle in the Coke for about 9 hours. That seemed to be enough. I wasn’t really sure how long they were ‘supposed’ to be in there, if at all. But I think it was enough. The leftover liquid was absolutely filthy with excess particles and grit that had come away during the soak. So it seemed to be doing a fairly good de-rust job.
They look like the souls of lost keys buried at sea, sitting on the silt, their image bending and distorting in the ripples…
Ahem, anyway, the last thing to do was to drain them off, rinse dry after the Coke.
The last stage is to give my favourite key a bit of a clean and polish so you can see the final cleaned up effect.
Lucky Number 7:
I love how I can now see all the grooves and marks.
The general texture comes through so much better. It’s not totally smooth, but the bumps form a really nice grain effect.
It’s looks heavily used over the years, perhaps sitting on a loop with other keys in the past.
That’s my lucky number 7 😀
I don’t have any particular individual before/after pictures, but I’m not sure they really needed that. The difference you can probably see by this ‘after’ picture is that the metal shows cleanly without rust or grit. It’s got a smooth shiny look and I’m sure pleased with how it’s turned out!
Cheers for reading and commenting!
AND, Merry Christmas to everyone, if I don’t get a chance to post again before the 25th.
Im glad its not just me that has a thing for old, random keys!! Ive got a draw of keys i have no idea what theyre for or whwre theyre from.... looking back at " part 1", yeah its possible best not to drink that cheap Tesco coke crap, it will give yiu gut rot.
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Thanks, ya legends!
I’m fascinated by this story. I’m going to go back to part 1 and learn more about where the keys came from. A great thing to get the kids involved with too.
That's a pretty cool process. It doesn't surprise me that coke made such a difference with all the acid and crap in it lol. Fun activity for you and the kids.
Merry Christmas mate, it's good you had help cleaning them up. Also the lucky number 7 key looks deadly, really unique.
Merry Christmas too! to you and your little helpers.
(we had a little training with Champagne today in the office..) 🎅
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Champagne in the office!? Mega.
It will be a merry Christmas indeed! 😂
yes... I work in a publishing house doing books for kidz, theres a warm informal atmosphere and very cool team. one of the best I had in my life. and its mostly female... so, yes, it was champaigne :D
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That sounds like a great place to work! Publishing house for kids sounds really interesting.
My wife @radicalpears is an Usborne Partner and sells chikdrens books. She loves the books and anything educational with kids. Perfect match!
It is far better than the ad industry, one may be pretty sure that you produce something useful and in demand, what people vote for and what they really need, not the advertising crap, which is imposed and being done right for the thrash-bin :) I hope to stay in this place with these people for many years on
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Merry Christmas!
When I started this community, I was sure that there would be a lot of people who would enjoy it here and that we would get to see interesting things.
Then, unfortunately, there was hardly any interest.
Now I haven't checked for a long time whether there are any posts here and today I was happy to find out that there have been some posts lately.
Thank you very much for your interesting insight into the cleaning of keys.
Cola is the secret recipe!
I will keep that in mind.
Merry Christmas!
Ah thank you, that’s a very kind thing to say. Merry Christmas and happy Hive-ing!
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Do you think the Coke made much difference? I'm sure people told me it could dissolve a coin overnight when trying to put me off it. Not that I drink it much anyway these days.
I'll have to see what I have. I am working on clearing out my shed, so more stuff is likely to turn up.
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Funnily enough we are clearing our shed and house out soon too. Moving house and we are so going to find all manner of old stuff!
Awesome! Do a post about it 😀
You know what..... I might just do that 😀
Yeah I the Coke got off all kinds of crap that hard scrubbing might have done. There was lots of sediment in the bottom that suggests it dissolved plenty.
We used cheap Coke. Not entirely sure if the ‘real thing’ would have done a different, perhaps more effective job.
Worth a go though.
Some on the last thread suggested an acid bath wouldn’t benefit old metals like these, since it could take away the protective layer on them. But a bit like this didn’t do any hard to ours. I suppose time will tell if they start to rust again or turn a funny colour.
I may have to try it on mine some time. I don't mind them looking 'weathered' anyway. I'll do a post some time when I have more to show.
Have a great Xmas.
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Those look incredible. Old keys are terribly fascinating, without a doubt. Glad you were able to get them cleaned up!
Thanks dude, I appreciate the comment and encouragement 😀🙌🏻