Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing

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debunix
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Mon Jul 06, 2020 12:06 am

Finally got to creating a Flickr set of the images of the before and after of the pots I cleaned with percarbonate. It was very bubbly stuff

Image

and took this pot from this

Image

to this

Image

but this white residue showed up after the pot was rinsed and dried, and took a fair bit of boiling/soaking and gentle scrubbing to remove

Image
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Bok
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Mon Jul 06, 2020 12:15 am

debunix wrote:
Mon Jul 06, 2020 12:06 am
but this white residue showed up after the pot was rinsed and dried, and took a fair bit of boiling/soaking and gentle scrubbing to remove
That looks like lime scale from the water to me. I find that often when I clean antiques. after the sod. parcarb. it shows, I then use citric acid to remove those. Just soaking in boiling water with the citric acid in it is enough.
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debunix
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Mon Jul 06, 2020 12:51 am

Thanks for the tip.
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Bok
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Mon Jul 06, 2020 3:02 am

debunix wrote:
Mon Jul 06, 2020 12:51 am
Thanks for the tip.
You're welcome! For persistent scale, leave longer, or repeat a couple of times.
RevFreundin
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Sat Jul 18, 2020 10:41 pm

This post (and all the conversations that follow after it too!) is so helpful, thank you so much for sharing!
student t
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Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:44 pm

Hi forum, I am thinking about buying a particular Tokonome shudei kyusu that has some sticker/decal residues. Any opinions on how hard it is to get rid of these and how to best do it without damaging the teaware? (The residues are on the outside, so it's just an aesthetic problem, they wouldn't come in contact with the tea).
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Bok
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Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:45 pm

student t wrote:
Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:44 pm
Hi forum, I am thinking about buying a particular Tokonome shudei kyusu that has some sticker/decal residues. Any opinions on how hard it is to get rid of these and how to best do it without damaging the teaware? (The residues are on the outside, so it's just an aesthetic problem, they wouldn't come in contact with the tea).
Alcohol will probably be easiest.
student t
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Tue Jul 21, 2020 12:52 am

Many thanks for the reply, Bok. I'm glad to hear that alcohol is something that can be applied to the teapot's surface. So you wouldn't worry with alcohol somehow staining/decolorising the surface or the pot permanently "absorbing" any smells? I guess alcohol evaporates very quickly, so my second concern is a bit silly...
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Victoria
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Tue Jul 21, 2020 1:11 am

student t wrote:
Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:44 pm
Hi forum, I am thinking about buying a particular Tokonome shudei kyusu that has some sticker/decal residues. Any opinions on how hard it is to get rid of these and how to best do it without damaging the teaware? (The residues are on the outside, so it's just an aesthetic problem, they wouldn't come in contact with the tea).
Very hot water and a baking soda rub can work as well to remove glue. Alcohol rub with a soft cloth may also work well. Just rinse with very hot water afterwards.
student t
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Tue Jul 21, 2020 4:57 am

Thank you very much for the tips, Victoria!

What I am hearing from you and Bok is that this doesn't seem to be an extraordinarily difficult thing to get rid of, which is encouraging.

This is also in line with my own -very limited- experience. A pot I have came with a sticker (F1 white label) which left a little bit of residue when I took it off. It didn't really bother me, and the residues got away over a short time period just with regular use (I rinse teapots inside and outside with hot water after use), perhaps I also occasionally rubbed off the residues with the finger a bit.

So my belief would be that for the prospective kyusu it should be no different, in principle. But for this item the residues are a bit more numerous and a bit uglier, so, if I buy it, I would probably want to clean it right away. Plus, I'd be pretty disappointed if it turns out that it isn't possible to remove the residues or I somehow ruin the pot in the process.
Pan
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Wed Jul 22, 2020 6:07 pm

debunix wrote:
Mon Jul 06, 2020 12:06 am
Finally got to creating a Flickr set of the images of the before and after of the pots I cleaned with percarbonate. It was very bubbly stuff

Image

and took this pot from this

Image

to this

Image

but this white residue showed up after the pot was rinsed and dried, and took a fair bit of boiling/soaking and gentle scrubbing to remove

Image
I had the same thing happen with my yxing yesterday and thought the same. My city water although filtered is quite hard. What do you recommend?

47F7583A-5C19-4CED-A04F-7DFBA205F694.jpeg
47F7583A-5C19-4CED-A04F-7DFBA205F694.jpeg (92.91 KiB) Viewed 7210 times
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pedant
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Wed Jul 22, 2020 7:34 pm

probably insoluble carbonates.

dissolve with acetic acid (white vinegar) or citric acid solution. can use hot solution for faster results.

rinse it out with plenty of water in the sink afterwards.

just like descaling a tea kettle or coffee machine.
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debunix
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Wed Jul 22, 2020 7:36 pm

I used just tap water and scrubbing; I will use vinegar next time.
OhThatNinja
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Sat Aug 01, 2020 6:15 pm

I tried baking soda on this pot. Some of the stain came off but looks like the rest is resitsting:
Old Yixing.jpg
Old Yixing.jpg (144.32 KiB) Viewed 7073 times
What should I try next?
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debunix
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Sat Aug 01, 2020 9:15 pm

The percarbonate might be a good next step.
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