I am not really disagreeing here but this stuff is basically drain cleaner or oven cleaner, both of which get dumped down the drain all the time (obviously for the drain cleaner). It would be really nice if we had a fully functioning and convenient hazardous waste programs everywhere here in the states but we don't.

True, oven cleaner gets dumped down the drain, but it's a matter of dilution. Oven cleaner is probably (I'm surmising) a combination of a small amount of concentrated NaOH with foaming agents to allow it to foam up and adhere to surfaces. Per final volume, it's probably not much NaOH. You put it down the drain and run water on top, which dilutes it further.

FWIW, NaOH is a strong "base" and has a pH at the highest end of the scale, at 14. The opposite is acid, which has low pH. If you mix an acid and a base, you effectively neutralize them both and produce salt as a byproduct. That's how we dispose of acids and bases in the lab, by neutralizing them with each other.

Urine is acidic, and we dump it down the sewer all the time. So, if you're really concerned about dumping lye down the drain, dump it in the toilet instead, and urinate. Bam, neutralized.

But I'm sure you neutralize in a controlled manner. That reaction can be exothermic and dangerous.

Exceeding bandwith? Bummer, this looked to be a promising/informative thread.

Perhaps you wouldn't mind re-uploading, DD?

No, what happened is that the original photos were uploaded to my Flickr account long before I "went Pro" and ended up with an unlimited-photo account. I had to delete the pics from this string back then to make room for newer pics.

I made a list of all the pics from this and the "Sanding and Polishing" thread for future photos. Then I'll re-upload and these threads will be of more assistance with pictures.

DD

....which could lead to another round of exploding-toilet stories!

But seriously, this is one of those situations where the solution to pollution really is dilution. Wastes are "hazardous" to the extent that they accumulate in the environment to toxic levels because they don't get bio-degraded, e.g., heavy metals, organic solvents, cancer chemotherapy drugs. But things like strong acids and strong alkalis are harmless once they are diluted enough not to be directly caustic to living tissue (or to sewage treatment systems.) Our stomachs secrete 0.1N hydrochloric acid which equates to a pH of 1.

A few years ago a railway tank car derailed somewhere out West and, on rupturing, released its load of 80-odd tonnes of sodium hydroxide into the adjacent river. A bunch of fish died in the first mile or so downstream but beyond that the river was just a bit more protected (temporarily) from the effects of acid rain.

I would be curious, though, about what, exactly, leaches into the de-anodizing solution from the parts being treated. Aluminum oxide, presumably? No more harmful than an old storm door sent to the dump?

^ Ugh - back to the subject at hand, already

I'm sure, in this day and age, there's a dedicated forum out there where "should we/shouldn't we pour drain cleaner down the drain" is a hot topic.

We are on a bike-nut forum here - right?

DD

Photos updated

I promise not to delete them this time!

DD

I know I'm a bike nut, and I followed your tips a while back and had very nice results. I did have a very stubborn stem a while back though...arg.

^ I'm happy to know the information on this thread was of some help - and I for one would love to see the results

Feel free to post pics of your results to this thread - and that goes for anyone else, too!

DD

AHHHH! Thank you so much!

I'm bumping this thread now merely because it's so informative. Thanks DD and everyone else.

Between this and the thread that rhm put together about removing anodizing from rims, I was able to successfully de-anodize two rims recently. The first rim was a bit of a challenge because I didn't have a strong enough solution, but for the second rim, I used Rooto Drain Cleaner with Lye that I bought from Amazon. It was about $10 including shipping for 2 lbs of crystals. This stuff worked supremely well and I stripped a rim of anodizing in under an hour. I'll soon be posting the finished rims in a thread... They look quite nice.

I'm with you Tom, thanks DD for this informative thread. Good stuff!

Vinegar can be used to neutralize the de-anodizer (I'm not a chemist, but I read this on the internet, so it must be true!).

I've been wanting to try out Jebsco. Up to this point, I've only used Easy-Off and it works fine, though not as quickly as te 5-10 minutes DD mentions for Jebsco. FYI, the aerosol can of Easy-Off works much faster than the non-aerosol spray bottle (some stores here in Berkeley do not sell aerosol bottles).

There are all kinds of archaeic names for chemicals:
Aqua Fortis - Nitric acid
Oil of Vitriol - Sulphuric acid
Soda ash - lye
Sugar of Lead - lead acetate
Marine Acid - Hydrochloric acid

Bump, for anyone looking for this. Photos are showing up now.

DD

that's because it is basically Draino.

I enlisted in '72, was an AW Aircrewman on P3's.

I recently went to buy a bike in Oxnard and the seller kept talking about this dude who drilled all his own bike parts. He was like:

"Yeah, he goes through every part and drills a hole and countersinks 'em too. And I'm asking him, 'Dude, do you even know if this is safe?'"

Now I think I know who he was talking about.

I took a big chance on this ugly duckling. These are before shots of the 3ttt stem with the Colnago panto's






I did use Easy Off to remove the black anodizing, then I did the sandpaper thing. I started with 250 grit and worked my way up to 3000, Then I hit it with Mothers Mag Polish. The stem as you can see above started out pretty rough, so I couldn't get all the scratches out but I think it looks good, not perfect but good.





Here it is installed on the Colnago Master Piu. Notice that I also polished the handlebar.




BTW... that's a smudge , (not a scratch) next to the Colnago Club in the last pic.