Verdigris

[dave]

Its the tannic acid, used to tan leather which causes it. Some do not use it I understand, such as Mexico tanned leather.

[S.B.]

Its the tannic acid, used to tan leather which causes it. Some do not use it I understand, such as Mexico tanned leather.

Dave, from what I've read it is cause by the animal oits used in the tanning process, to avoid this they now use vegetable oils?
Steve

[dave]

Never heard that. Have a friend who was a chemist and the tannic acid is what he told me. I just took his word for it. I'm sure something could be found on the internet.

[sdkrag]

Just don't drop any of that stuff on your wife's white bedroom carpet.

[Johnny P]

The verdigris is a reaction between the tannic acid in the leather and the copper in the brass hooks. As dave explained, the verdigris you see on the outside has worked out from under the brass, and will continue to do so. I just try to keep it cleaned off with toothpicks until it forms more, and incidentally it is poison. In some cases it will push the hooks off the sling, or the rivets in holsters.

[Fred]

Yea, I decided to take three of my slings apart to remove every vestige of encroaching and damaging verdigris from in between the brass claws and the leather. It'd grown so much that the brass and leather were pushed apart with some of the rivets starting to pull out of the brass. Those rivets that weren't coming out of the brass were trying to pull through the leather on the other end of the rivet.
So, being a really resourceful guy, I carefully took the claws off and scraped away the green waxy stuff and brushed away all traces of it from the leather with a Soft toothbrush and from the brass claws with a brass wired brush. I used a brass bore brush to clean out from under the hooks of the claws really well. I then cleaned the leather tips with Pecard Antique Leather Dressing and after thoroughly cleaning off each rivet, I tapped each back in to its original hole, allowing the end to re expand in the hole against a bronze anvil. Just had to do it. Now the slings should last another 100 years just fine before they have to be cleaned again. Probably even longer.
One has to know what their doing of course. But it isn't rocket science, so I got through it OK. Besides, having been a handy man for a school district for 12 years, I got pretty good at taking things apart, and putting them back together again after fixing and servicing everything. Wife says that I'm a real wizbang around the house... LOLOLOL
Anyway, I've done it other times since and they turned out good.

[Fred]

[Fred]

This technique shouldn't be used to service the older trapdoor and Krag slings. They have a different rivet holding them together and attempting to drive them out or remove them would mess them up in a bad way.

Actually I'm thinking there is a way to remove those too and then put them back in again so that they look the same. However it'd take three hands.

[PhillipM]

This technique shouldn't be used to service the older trapdoor and Krag slings. They have a different rivet holding them together and attempting to drive them out or remove them would mess them up in a bad way.

How did you remove the rivets?

[Fred]

With a drive or drift whose face is smaller than the holes in the brass claws.

[Johnny P]

Great job on the sling.

[Fred]

Thank you Kindly!