Well, do you mind spending some time, or want to do some work?

An old friend who has since passed away used to bury them in fine sand outside in a box over the winter. (We are up north) Several months of freezing and thawing cycles caused the sand to scrub off a lot of the gunk. Be careful to put them right side up - so they do not fill with any moisture and crack after feezing.

A quicker way depends on what type of pollution they have accumulated and whether they be glass or porcelain. I start with the old standbys of kitchen cleanser, squirt bottles of stuff like 409, even a wipe with lacquer thinner, and then to progressively stronger elements requiring gloves and protection - like muriatic acid from the hardware store. I wonder if something like CLR or Limeaway would do the trick?

If they are 'clean' to where they do not soil your hands, there may be something to leaving the 'patina' as a testament to their long use.

Bob Kutella

I have always used dental stuff like what people put false teeth in to get deposits out of old bottles & such. I think the effervescent would work for insulators too...............................................Wooly

Try Lime-Away or a toilet bowl cleaner. I worked with an engineer who collected old style conductor lanterns and he soaked them in toilet bowl cleaner. He was very careful to not leave them in too long. The ones that I saw after his "soaking", looked like new.

Don C.

I once picked up some insulators that were coated in creosote. I soaked them in dry cleaning solvent (formula pd-680), and all the creosote came off after rinsing, and they looked like new. Just be carefull to wear gloves if you use the stuff, it dries out your skin real bad if you don't wear them.

This discussion has moved to a potentially dangerous situation (IMHO as an eye care practitioner).

In my profession there are three ocular emergencies.

First is a chemical burn to the eye -- lye specifically.

Second is a central retinal artery occlusion (stroke in the eyeball).

Lye is particulary toxic to ocular tissue. It penetrates the tissue rapidly, leading to dense, nasty scarring. The scar tissue opacifies the normally clear cornea -- causing a blindness. Often the scar tissue fuses the eyelid to the globe (eyeball). Heroics are often called for to save any vision and may involve grafts, corneal transplants, and such just to save some vision.

BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL IF YOU ARE GOING TO PROCEED. WEAR ADEQUATE (if such really exists) EYE PROTECTION.


Oh, the third emergency?

Out of town cataract patient with cash.

sc 'doc' lewis