Cleaning Rusted Gold-Plating

Folks,

I'm tying to find some info/advice on cleaning rusted gold-plated hardware on an Edison phonograph for a friend. Before he has to sand it down I'd like to find out if there's any way he can save at least some of the plating. Thanks.

Regards,
J.

John

Any chance of a picture?

I suppose a lot depends on how bad the rust is? Is it rust?

I have had a few gold plated parts with minor corrosion (brass base metal) to the gold. I've used a gentle cream cleaner designed for cleaning chrome /car parts. It removed a lot of the "green" corrosion and left me with just a few blackish specks all over. Avoid any abrasives as most gold plating appears to be quite thin and lacking durability. I don't honestly know how good Edison's gold plated parts were?

A picture might determine how bad it is and what to try to tackle the corrosion before going down the irreversible path of sanding.

Regards

Steve

Steve,

As you may or may not have seen elsewhere, I was asking for someone else. So I don't have a photo. I will likewise be facing the same problem myself soon, but I think mine is so gone there's nothing to save.

Regards,
J.

I restore vintage saxophones for a living and many 1920's ones are gold plated over silver plate over brass. I use a paste made from food grade diatome flour and water to clean red-rot from the brass. It works great and is very gentle on the gold plate. You might try Crest toothpaste which contains a similar silica. A hand rub with red rouge will bring out a shine. Hope this helps.

David

Try aluminum foil. If it is really rust, the thermite reaction (fortunately in slow speed) will change the rust and aluminum into iron and aluminum oxide. You don't even really have to rub - just repeatedly press unused parts of the foil on the rust.