Other than rewrapping, there weren't too many alternatives
for fixing the BDP wrap. This was a very thick and tough coat of
varnish and the plastic wrap was even less resistant to scratching
and chemical attack than the Resocoat. Seeking the perfect solvent,
I tried many different products on the varnish. I experimented with
all kinds of strippers, including the citrus variety, and other
agents, such as lacquer thinner, fingernail paint remover, graffiti
remover, alcohol, adhesive remover--even wet-sanding. Everything
I tried was either too aggressive, too slow, or too rough on the
40-year-old wrap.
After all this, I decided to return to the Formby Refinisher. It
was effective, yet less aggressive than conventional strippers.
I just had to develop a way to slow it down a bit, so I could remove
the varnish in layers and stop short of fogging the BDP wrap.
To accomplish this, I decided to dilute the refinishing solution.
My testing revealed that 3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner was
one of the only solvents that did not harm unpainted BDP wrap. It
proved to be miscible with the refinisher, so I combined them in
a shallow dish.
As one might imagine, this was a very volatile and toxic-smelling
brew. It's also highly flammable. When working with chemicals of
this nature, the workspace should be well-ventilated and far from
any sources of ignition. I chose to work outside in a breezeway.
This stuff will make your fingers burn, if they are not protected,
so rubber gloves are also required.
I tested on the bottom of the bass drum. Once I was confident in
my chemical concoction, I stripped the hardware off the 8- by 12-in.
tom. I started with this drum because it's small and I was anxious
to incorporate it with another Ludwig keystone BDP set. I removed
everything except the five-digit keystone badge. To keep the drum
as original as possible, I discreetly numbered the lugs so that
they could be remounted in their original positions. And, I stored
the fasteners in their original holes.
With lugs, muffler assembly and mount casting removed, it was evident
that the Rembrandt who varnished this shell, had not bothered to
remove the hardware. This was good because it provided 12 baby-lug-shaped
examples of what the wrap was SUPPOSED to look like. There was one
other plus: The varnish had sloshed onto the lugs and it appeared
to have protected them somewhat from pitting. It came off the chrome
easily with a little lacquer thinner on a rag. Mounting hardware
and washers were easily purged of the interior paint after a short
soak in lacquer thinner. An old toothbrush worked well for getting
buildup out of inside corners on the hex-head mounting screws..
I masked the badge to protect it, and was now ready to begin the
stripping process. I applied the solution with terrycloth rags instead
of the recommended #0000 steel wool. The steel wool is faster, but
it's more abrasive and will scratch the soft wrap. Cloth requires
more elbow grease, but it works without scratching. The used rags
are, of course, highly flammable, so must be disposed of properly.
I worked in small sections, dunking a corner of the rag in the stripping
solution and rubbing the shell. As the varnish dissolved, the rag
turned yellow with gunk. I added just a little adhesive cleaner
diluent at first, then increased the ratio as I got closer to the
actual wrap surface. I would rub off a layer, then wipe it with
100% adhesive cleaner to stop any further stripping action. The
key is to control the stripping to one layer at a time. During the
process, the wrap sometimes looks rough or "burned" by
the solution. However, this is actually dissolved varnish that is
still clinging to the wrap. Continued rubbing with a 50:50 mix of
stripper and solvent will eventually remove it.
Too much rubbing will darken the wrap, however, so it is important
to stop as soon as the yellowing and residue are off. The stripping
process dulls the original sheen, so I followed by polishing the
shell with 3M Plastic Cleaner, a quartz-silica/ kaolinite-based
product. Other popular polishes, such as Novus #2 or #3 would likely
work as well. The polish gave the shell an almost original-looking
shine.
Continue to Page 3:
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| Using a
diluted stripping agent applied to a rag, layers of varnish
were softened and wiped off the black diamond pearl wrap.
Varnish residue ends up on rag, so many rags are necessary
to complete the job. It's best to remove the varnish in
layers, progressively diluting the stripping agent en route
to exposing the actual wrap. If the stripper is too strong,
or work continues too long, the wrap will become dull and
noticeably darker (see
sidebar). |
| Interior
view of 12-in. by 8-in. project tom (right) shows pinkish
paint, which was applied over all the lug-mounting hardware.
The resonant side glue ring had been stripped and stained
dark brown. Nice, mid-'60s tom in original condition (left)
shows how interior details are supposed to look. |
|
