Just my luck. I dumped $40 dollars on these at the Container Store today.

My timing has been off all day. CryBaby

Take those back. Nice but not $40 nice.

Creighton

Small update: The first official accomplishment in the restoration of my late 40's Marble Lacquer Radio Kings is...drum rolls please (I think I'm at the right place for that)...

The 3-point strainer lever! I can't wait to see what it might look like post tumbling. I hope to run a couple of batches this weekend.

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I took the heads and hardware off of the 13". I can't believe how light weight the calf heads are...I was expecting them to be heavier for some reason. The hardware is so rusty it's powdery. The tension rods are getting a vinegar bath right now. I'm very excited they all match and appear to be original. I've never had a kit with clips and single flanged hoops...there are no washers between the tension rods and clips, is that normal?

No sign of cracked hoop clips on the 13". Something that looks out of place, but I'm pretty sure is correct, are two large chrome washers that are part of the tom mount. They hold the screws for the tom mount and attach to the interior of the shell. They are engraved "Slingerland Chicago IL USA". They just look out of place with the rest of the rusty and oxidized hardware. Looking at the marks on the interior of the shell they look like they've been there a long time. Would these be correct?

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And, the delamination of the outer ply does not go all the way to the top of the shell. Shell interior looks good.

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Going to remove the lugs tomorrow. I thought I read where it is okay to soak nickel lugs in vinegar, correct? It won't hurt the plating with it?

Dan

The chrome washers are factory. that is the way it should be.

That oval badge was 48-50.My RK is a 47 and has an aluminum cloud badge.So post 47.

I would also NOT use steel wool or a tumbler.Steel wool will scratch chrome and especially nickel,which is softer.Nickel plating is also VERY thin.I would just get some cape cod cloths which do a great job on vintage nickel plating.

I have been reloading my own ammo for over 30 years and us a tumbler to polish my shell casings,and I can tell you,it removes nickel plating from the shell casings.Not all at once,but it wears down the plating.Why take the chance,when cape cod cloths are designed to clean nickel.

Use crumpled aluminum foil for the tension rods aluminum.It's much softer than steel wool,and won't scratch the plating.

Steve B

i do extreme faux marble i can match that finish !!!!

How long should I soak the nickel streamlines in vinegar for some cleaning before I tumble them?

Will the springs, screws and washers from the lugs flash rust if I give them a vinegar bath too?

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Trying to figure out how to soak the muffler/tone control assembly without ruining the felts.

Question: If they're going into the tumbler, why bother with a pre-rinse? The tumbler will knock all the rust off of the parts and if you add a 1/2 tsp. of polish powder, it'll de-rust and polish the parts all in one step.

That's why you got a tumbler in the first place... save time and steps!

Let the parts go two hours at a clip. If they need more time in the tumbler, let them go another two hours, etc. etc. until they are clean and shiny.

John

John,

Three reasons I pre-soak. All depends the task at hand. On the nickle lugs it will bubble the lime build up out of the pores of the pot metal base. It's a deeper clean. Less time in the tumbler, less damage to the plating. Hope it will slow the pitting from starting again. Dig me up in 70 years to see how that went :-)

The steel rusty bits, soak takes a bunch of the rust off, rinse,dry. Quick twist with steel wool then into the tumbler. The medium lasts quite a bit longer. Times are shorter. I know the medium doesn't cost that much but every bit of savings helps.

I'm rolling through several shells so it's easy to set up an assembly line of soak, tumble etc.

Easy to spot the parts that need replacement after a soak. Time not wasted in the tumbler.

Of course there are the parts that still break on assembly despite the love:-).

Creighton

I started working on the bass drum today and all I can say is...WOW!!! It is in phenomenal shape. The shell and the lacquer are fantastic. One of the hoops is cracked clean through and the inlay is pretty bad. I am going to completely redo the hoops. I want to have them sanded down and finished with a natural lacquer.

A had a great surprise when I took the resonant side hoop off. The hand painted artwork on the reso head was not actually on the head. Someone put a hand-painted canvas over a Radio King calf head and trimmed the excess off around the hoop. This left a like new calf head underneath. It is in fantastic shape. The ink stamp logo is very vivid.

The edges on this drum are quite sharp. Nothing like the Slingerland rounded edges of the 60's. Man am I having fun. I hope to have some nice before and after tumbling photos of the hardware this weekend. Let me know if I'm sharing too much, seriously.

Thanks for all the guidance gentlemen.

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