Degreasing a mold

[stocker]

I have a mold that always threw a bullet showing a pock mark in one of the lube grooves. Same cavity and same location. From the start I suspected oil or grease and tried repeatedly to get it clean using the usual methods of soap, brake cleaner etc.

Finally I resorted to the same method I use for absorbing oil out of gunstocks.

I mixed a paste of acetone and diatomaceous (I can hardly say it let alone spell it) earth which is used as swimming pool filter material. Looks like ground silica which it may be.

Laid a layer of the paste between the blocks and packed the cavities with it and wrapped in tin foil and set aside for a couple days. Brushed the now dry material out , wiped with alcohol and smoked the mold.

NO MORE POCK MARK!

I don't know just what kind of material was contaminating that location but I give it an A for persistence.

[fatnhappy]

A paste of diamotaceous earth and acetone? You must be a pressman.

I use them both all the time as a printer.

[stocker]

Nope, not a pressman. I previously used whiting and acetone for re-habbing stocks that had soaked up to much gun oil and grease. Supply of whiting went south so looked for an alternate. Procedure is same for gunstocks. Make a paste and apply to affected area and wrap with foil. Leave until it dries and it will soak out most of the oil in the wood. Wipe clean with acetone and refinish.

I bet you have squirelled away pile of lino????

[drinks]

Diatoms are the fossilized skeletons of microscopic sea animals.
It is used as an additive in animal feeds to control inernal parasites and as a dust on plants, the sharp edges cut the bug's shells and they die.
It is very bad stuff for people to inhale, will cut your lungs up, too.

[grumble]

Diatoms are the fossilized skeletons of microscopic sea animals.
It is used as an additive in animal feeds to control inernal parasites and as a dust on plants, the sharp edges cut the bug's shells and they die.
It is very bad stuff for people to inhale, will cut your lungs up, too.

It's also the stuff Mr Nobel used to hold nitroglycerin when he made his first dynomite.