[ARC5] Crystal aging and "Rust Remover"

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

On 15 Mar 2013 at 9:47, Bruce Long wrote:

> Sorry Kennth for sending this email originally just to you instead of
> the group   bruce

Not a problem for me, Bruce. 

I do know that ALL of us here are very interested in your experiences.

> with respect to HF  I discovered to my surprise some small bottles of rust
> removing potions available at the big orange box are actually dilute
> HF solutions.  They work really well for me.

I just went to check the two bottles of "Rust Remover" we have here: the 
trade name for that stuff, as I have mentioned here before is "WHINK", in 
very small letters near the top. The bottles are brown plastic and fairly small.

Very clearly written in large letters near the bottom are the words 
"CONTAINS HYDROFLOURIC ACID."

I am very interested in your words above, "They work really well for me."

Would you be so kind as to explain in some detail how you use this stuff, and 
what are the results you have gotten with it? 

Like, how fast and how well it actually moves the crystals, etc?

I suppose you use plastic or wooden tools (tweezers, etc.) with it?

I know from my own experience with WHINK, that it does a really marvelous 
job of cleaning crystals, and I have used it a time or two in the past to 
reactivate sluggish crystals.

But I have yet to use it to move any of the bunch of FT-243s I bought some 
time ago to any ham bands.

I had thought that in order to get the crystals to move, some pretty far, I 
would need to grind them first, THEN use the "Whink".

If I can avoid the grinding process, with its attendant issues of difficulty with 
cleanliness, and difficulty with keeping the sides of the crystal blank parallel 
(which is extremely difficult to accomplish when grinding by hand), I would be 
very pleased.

I do have some very, very good grinding compound which a ham of my 
aquaintance sent me some time ago, but I have hesitated to use it.

Lastly, I wonder if there is a non-dangerous way that we amateurs can 
"distill" the WHINK to get a stronger solution of HF from it? 

I would certainly hesitate to boil it. I don't know what its temperature of 
evaporation might be, nor do I know what the other ingredients in WHINK 
actually are. I suppose we can find out.

However, WHINK may work well enough as it is that we don't have to bother 
with "strengthening" it.

Ken Gordon W7EKB