Vertigris

[Ron Nossaman]

At 03:30 PM 2/12/98 EST, you wrote:
>
>In a message dated 2/12/98 2:51:01 PM, Michael.Jorgensen@cmich.edu wrote:
>
><< "I've wondered if vertigris is deposit created as a result of
>electrolysis.">>
>
>Mike;
>   I think that there may be some component here but...........in the case of
>S&S action rails, they are soldered to the brackets.  Would not the solder
>tin/zinc/lead) in this application be the less noble metal?  I don't believe
>that I have ever seen a bad solder joint where the joint was failing due to
>anything other than a cold joint or a crack.  Also I have seen extreme cases
>of verdigris in actions without metal rails.  Of course there still could be
>an electrical connection along the wood surface as you speculate but I don't
>know. I still have to lean heavily on parrafin/mineral spirits/organic
>compounds as being the villian in the case of verdigris but I also think that
>the electropositive origins of 'sulfide' as opposed to the chemical origins of
>'sulfate' play the larger role in verdigris formation.
>Jim Bryant (FL)
>


Gotta go with you on this one Jim. Electrolysis requires a complete circuit.
One center pin suspended in wool and maple, saturated in a loosely defined
lubricant of dubious origin does not a corrosion cell make. I ground too
much of the real stuff from the bottoms of RF-4 wings in England to fall for
that old trick. The original tallow probably contained some regular old NaCl
that aided the process and produced the green. I wonder too if the residual
lanolin in the bushing cloth didn't aid and abet the verdigris formation.
Perhaps it's a natural polymerization process. Why is there never an organic
chemist around when you need one?  

 
 Ron Nossaman