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Re: Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 4:22 am
by Mark-S
Bok wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 3:47 am
Mark-S that looks like way too much powder to me. I normally use one tea spoon in- one outside the pot. That cleans the dirtiest pots in 1, max 2 rounds. Sodium percarbonate, not Natrium percarbonate.
I think I should try it a second time. When I used baking soda the first time (on a fake teapot) it did not do much to the stains. Maybe these stains were not from tea. The picture was from the first page. I thought that this is the normal amount for you to use. Good to know that it should work with less.
Re: Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 5:42 am
by Bok
Mark-S wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 4:22 am
Bok wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 3:47 am
Mark-S that looks like way too much powder to me. I normally use one tea spoon in- one outside the pot. That cleans the dirtiest pots in 1, max 2 rounds. Sodium percarbonate, not Natrium percarbonate.
I think I should try it a second time. When I used baking soda the first time (on a fake teapot) it did not do much to the stains. Maybe these stains were not from tea. The picture was from the first page. I thought that this is the normal amount for you to use. Good to know that it should work with less.
Baking soda is Sodium Bi- carbonate, I am using Sodium Per-carbonate, not the same thing!
Re: Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 6:16 am
by Mark-S
Edit: Oh, I am sorry, "Natrium" is the German word for "Sodium".
I accidentally used it before.
Bok wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 5:42 am
Baking soda is Sodium Bi- carbonate, I am using Sodium Per-carbonate, not the same thing!
Oh, sorry, I misread your last sentence.
What do you mean with:
"Sodium percarbonate, not Natrium percarbonate"
I am using something called "Natriumpercarbonat". It has the chemical formular 2 Na2CO3 · 3 H2O2. Sodium Percarbonate has the formular Na2CO3 · 1.5 H2O2. Isn't this the same?
Re: Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 6:23 am
by faj
Mark-S wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 6:16 am
Isn't this the same?
A bit of googling quickly revealed that natrium is the name of sodium in many languages, and was probably previously used in English and French too as a name for sodium, though that old name has fallen out of use. The chemical symbol for sodium (Na) hints to this.
Re: Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 6:26 am
by Mark-S
@faj
Yeah, I have seen that too now.
I changed the word "Natrium" to "Sodium" now. In English it seems to be more common to use the word "Sodium". Sorry for the confusion
Re: Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 6:34 am
by Youzi
Sodium = Natrium = Na
Potassium = Kalium = K
Personally I'd prefer to use the latter names, as they correspond to the element shortenings found in the periodic scale and chemistry.
However, both names are correct.
Re: Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 6:38 am
by faj
Mark-S wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 6:26 am
Sorry for the confusion
Nothing to be sorry for! Misunderstandings often result from incomplete knowledge on both sides of the discussion, and therefore shared opportunities to learn, masquerading as disagreement on facts. I certainly learned something new here!
Re: Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2020 4:55 pm
by Mark-S
I cleaned the pot now. Sodium Percarbonate has not damaged the decoration. This is what I have done:
1. Put the pot into filtered water for two days
2. Bring the water to boil, add two teaspoons of Sodium Percarbonate to it (for small cooking pots I would only use one) and let it cool down
3. Clean it with a sponge (maybe was not necessary though)
4. Boil the teapot in fresh water for about 30 minutes and let it cool down again
The pictures were taken after step 1 and step 3. This procedure works just great.
Re: Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2020 4:59 pm
by Mark-S
By the way, I wonder who uses those dirty pots. Imho this is just disgusting.
My pots have to be clean.
Re: Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2020 5:26 pm
by Victoria
Mark-S wrote: ↑Sun Mar 15, 2020 4:55 pm
I cleaned the pot now. Sodium Percarbonate has not damaged the decoration. This is what I have done:
1. Put the pot into filtered water for two days
2. Bring the water to boil, add two teaspoons of Sodium Percarbonate to it (for small cooking pots I would only use one) and let it cool down
3. Clean it with a sponge (maybe was not necessary though)
4. Boil the teapot in fresh water for about 30 minutes and let it cool down again
Your process looks really good and glad to see the decoration wasn’t affected. When you say boil, you mean simmer right? Boiling can potentially damage the pot from the vibration, simmering is must safer.
Re: Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2020 5:38 pm
by Mark-S
@Victoria Thanks
I boiled it but carefully. And I used a towel so that the teapot cannot touch the cooking pot.
Re: Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2020 6:30 pm
by faj
I have cleaned pots a few times with percarbonate.
The first time, I used a towel, but it left a smell. It was not a foul smell, more like a slightly chemical scent from brand new fabric that has never been washed, though the towel I used was very clean and not new at all. I re-boiled the teapot and it went away.
Since then, I have simply used no protection, but I heat the water slowly and stop the heat just before boiling starts, not leaving the teapot to simmer. The teapots I have cleaned had only minor tea stains, and the stains went away entirely without any need for simmering.
However, I would be curious to know if others have had problems with smells when putting fabric in the water.
Re: Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2020 6:49 pm
by Victoria
faj wrote: ↑Sun Mar 15, 2020 6:30 pm
I have cleaned pots a few times with percarbonate.
The first time, I used a towel, but it left a smell. It was not a foul smell, more like a slightly chemical scent from brand new fabric that has never been washed, though the towel I used was very clean and not new at all. I re-boiled the teapot and it went away.
Since then, I have simply used no protection, but I heat the water slowly and stop the heat just before boiling starts, not leaving the teapot to simmer. The teapots I have cleaned had only minor tea stains, and the stains went away entirely without any need for simmering.
However, I would be curious to know if others have had problems with smells when putting fabric in the water.
I use unscented laundry detergent, plus before using a towel for protection, I’ll pre-soak it in very hot water a few times to remove any remaining detergent. I also don’t use boiling, or even continuously simmering water in hot pot with percarbonate, don’t think it is necessary. I simply place very dirty stinky teapot inside a Pyrex container, place a few spoons of powder (varies with teapot size and dirt level) inside teapot (outside if very dirty there), then fill to cover teapot with boiling water, cover with glazed dinner plate, and wait until water cools off. All this happens outside to avoid vapors being inhaled. I should update my original cleaning guidelines post to add these details.
Re: Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2020 8:48 pm
by Bok
Mark-S wrote: ↑Sun Mar 15, 2020 4:59 pm
By the way, I wonder who uses those dirty pots. Imho this is just disgusting.
My pots have to be clean.
some people seem to think the previous owner's gunk is beneficial to their own tea experience and call it seasoning... apart from that, old pots should be cleaned to make sure they are really old.
Re: Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 9:24 am
by Youzi
Has anyone tried cooking a pot in lemon juice/ critic acid / in an acidic substance, or soak it in an acidic water for a long time?