Zim's?? band2

Ditto.... see what you have then.

[COLOR="Green"]HurtingI can pretty much guarantee you they most certainly didn't clean up nice. Maybe to a pair of young teen eyes they did...but holy crap (again)...cleanser is super-abrasive and it certainly scratched the sh#t out of 'em.

I agree...try dish soap and water first. If that doesn't suit you, move next to Wright's Copper Cream (but DON'T scrub it in hard....just apply softly and let it do its work).

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No they did look nice. I've done the same process with cheap cymbals in the past. It's not like Comet has sand in it.... it's just not ideal.

OK man, you've been given some very good advice.

Use as you choose....:)

these are both good ideas but maybe need a bit of refinement. ---there are different types of grime on cymbals, which need different cleaning approaches. oil and grease and airborne dirt need some dish detergent and water(dish soap??)---actual soap ,liquid or otherwise isn't strong enough to break that stuff down. give the cymbal a thorough scrubbing with one of those fine cellulose or fine woven plastic scouring pads that are recommended for teflon pots etc. when all that greasy mirey stuff is rinsed off you can then tackle the oxidation of the metal but not very easily before. a lot of the tarnish is copper oxide and or copper sulphate plus oxides related to the impurities in the metal. a paste of that really fine scratch free cream cleanser(there are a lot of brands) and cheap white vinegar rubbed in with one of those fine scratch free pads in a circular pattern with the tonal grooves will take the bulk of the remaining tarnish off. sometimes i soak the cymbal in a bath of water and white vinegar for a while----about a pint of vinegar to two gallons water; this lifts a lot of the tarnish off prior to final cleaning. stains due to spilled drinks or liquids on the cymbal may be very hard to remove but can be reduced by about 90%.-----how do i know this?

i used to keep my cymbals in a vertical stack ,slightly leaning against a wall,in a discreet out of the way corner of a safe room----until a cat waltzed in one day and decided to spray all over them. because of the ordered sizing of the cymbals; large in ,small out ;he got them all. Cat urine streaming down sometimes both sides and boy does it corrode. So, I learned the hard way how to clean cymbals-----funny thing is they all sound different now; they have this eery, yowl in the undertones, which changes in the overtones to a shriek ,especially in the splashes. can't quite explain it.

The other day I can across Bar Keeper's Friend Liquid - has no grit to it. I tried it on an old Krut cymbal and was shocked at how good they came out with no scrubbing. I am going to look more into the contents of it to see what chemical is working it's magic. But one coating of it took off a lot of the crap but didn't remove all the patina. Tried two more coats and it shined like new. I liked the fact that there was a little bit of control in how much patina is removed. I wish I had taken pics of it before I gave it away.

Apparently it's just oxalic acid. Shouldn't be harmful to metals.

I think that I'll just take a D.A. sander to my cymbals. That'll shine them up!Laughing H

Ha! NOT!

Thanks for all of the info fella's!

T

They really are not that bad, but I understand you want clean. Clean can mean many things. Do you just want the grunge off, or do you want all the patina off, or do you want them as shiny as new? Each level will require more aggressive cleaning and the potential for chemical or abrasive damage. In the end they may still not look the way you'd hope. Could you post some closeups of the stamps? I think these are probably from the '60s as you suggest but the stamps will tell the tale. It will be easer to assess the risk and potential loss of value once the age and value of the cymbals is known.

Avoid anything abrasive unless you care more for a shiny look than for the sound, and you're not concerned about the value of these cymbals.