I was given several reeds but all seem to have varous degrees of rust. Does anyone have a solution to fix them so they are usable again? Any ideas would help. Thanks

Comments

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 01:51

sandra.eberhar…

If you do a search, you can find a lot of information on treating damaged reeds.  Some people use vinegar, naval jelly, sandblasting.  It depends on how valuable your time is.  It can take a long time, a lot of work and sandblasting to get a rusted reed to where it won't cut threads.  I will steel wool a reed, but that's it.  The problem with more drastic methods (naval jelly) used on more damaged reeds is that when the rust is gone, sharp edged pits remain, which have to be steel wooled or sandblasted out.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 09:04

Michael White

with sand will remove the rust but the finsh is too rough for the reed to be used able. If you are going to have them "sandblased" use glassbeads. This will leave a smooth finish. I have a large dia PVC pipe with one ended caped that I use to soak reeds in white vineage. It works very well. Michael

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 19:05

Xylem

I recently cleaned a reed that had not been used for many years and it had endured a year here in SE Tennessee with high humidity. Vinegar applied and left for a while to start, then some solid scrubbing with a small wire brush (which has brass bristles). I then polished off any residue with thick cotton string (6 dents at a time). It is use again so should see results soon. See on my blog: sheep2shawl.blogspot.com (Reed Cleaning).

Wed, 07/01/2015 - 14:27

handcraftermaggie

Thank you Michael White for your suggestion to sandblast the reed. I have a 15 dent reed that is 45" wide. I took it to a local auto body restoration company. They used a low pressure blaster and the sprayed it with primer to keep it from rusting again. 

See my circa 1900 handmade loom that I am restoring. 

https://maggiescornerdotorg.wordpress.com/2015/06/22/floor-loom-restoration-project/

https://maggiescornerdotorg.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/cimg4860.jpg