How to clean a railroad lantern

I have been asked many times how to clean a railroad lantern. What follows covers
brakeman hand lanterns and not the larger lamps (switch / markers). I think I have
cleaned over 2,000 railroad lanterns. Every one is different. The techniques
that follow should always include protective procedures. These include but are
not limitied to the following:

 o If you live in a city or have kids or pets you like, stop right now and find another method
 o You need an outside area to do the "dipping"
 o cold northern Winters require waiting for Spring  
 o You must have protective eye wear, rubber gloves, old clothes, rags
 o Your outside area should be level and should include a galvanized farm 
   tank to hold the buckets.
 
The basic technique is to dip the lanterns in a series of solutions and apply
varying amounts of elbow grease and abbrasives at different stages. The basic
SUPPLIES you'll need are:

 o At least 3 five gallon plastic buckets with lids 
 o One long galvanized steel tank that holds the buckets (optional, but good to have) 
 o Handled plastic household scrub brushes. Mine are kitchen and bathroom "hand me downs" 
 o Steel wool: lots of 0000, some 000, a few 00 and very few 0 and coarser grades 
 o Access to an outside hose and spray area 
 o Cheap Q-tips and assorted other small specialty tools
 o Red devil lye and baking soda are the solution ingredients
 o If you do a lot you'll require odd small tools that you'll figure out as you go along   
 
The following steps have always worked for me. I'll number the steps and include
some popular variants that friends of mine either use or swear by that I consider
to be options. The most variations take place when the frame is clean and dry.

In the SPRING:
(1) Prep the work area. One bucket will be filled to "lantern height" with warm water
and one can of Red Devil lye. Wear eye protection when you do this. The lye sometimes
cakes in its can and a screwdriver can break up the chunks. Red devil is getting
harder to find and I swear it works better than Ace Hardware brand or any other lye.
This is completely illogical but I know it's true. Lye is Sodium Hydroxide and is a
strong chemical "base". A base is the opposite of an acid. A strong base can do as
much damage as a strong acid, so respect this stuff! Protext your eyes and exposed
skin. The lye can be added as the water is added. This is Bucket #1.

(1a) A second plastic bucket can be filled with water to the same height as the lye
bucket. Add a box of baking soda. Don't waste money on Arm and Hammer. I use the
cheapest store brand I can find. Baking soda is a salt and is used as a neutralizing
solution. Do NOT add the baking soda to the lye bucket. This is Buscket #2.

(1c) The 3rd plastic bucket will get just clean water. It can have extra water. This is Bucket #3.

(1d) At the sign of first frost consider shutting down the vats. The lye and baking soda
will freeze last. The clean water can be used as a gauge of how cold it's getting. If
you can stand to clean them into the Winter you have more limber hands than I.

(1X) The above steps are either an initial setup or periodic necessity. It's hard to
know how long each solution will last. It depends on the lanterns and your personal
taste. The lye will last 6-12 lanterns and the baking soda may last for 20. The clean water
gets changed as often as two to three times per lantern. 
 
(2) Strip the lantern. Remove the globe. Remove all parts that easily come apart. Use
old coat all-metal hangers to hold small parts together. It's best not to clean too many
similar frames at once. For example follow a Reliable with a Vesta to avoid parts mix-ups.
The coat hanger wires need a hook on their ends to help suspend the parts inside a bucket
while the end of the loop is hanging on the outside.

(3) Slowly lower the basic frame into the vat of lye/water. Always wear eye protection. Take
time to not splash the lye. Next suspend the frame small parts in with the frame with a
coat hanger hook holding them on the outside of the vat.

(3a) It just depends on the metal and the strength of the lye but the frame may be in
Bucket #1 (lye) for 8 hours to 2 days. Most take about 24 hours.

(3b) Gently remove the frame from the lye and lower slowly into the baking soda water. Wear
eye protection and industrial rubber gloves. Once the frame is in Bucket #2 add the smaller
removable parts to Bucket #2. If you are doing a lot of frames, The next frame can go into
Bucket #1.

(4) In 24 hours, remove the frame from Bucket #2 (baking soda water) and dump it into Bucket #3  (clean water bucket). At this point I am anxious and pump the frame up and down and get a
filthy splash going. Put on your rubber gloves for this. Next use a large plastic bristle brush
in the water and scrub the frame and parts. It's amazing how dirty the water gets. Keep doing it. With luck it's a sunny day. Remove the frame and parts after scrubing them. Get the hose out
and spray them down. Scrub them again and get all of your special tools (like the Q-tips)
and clean down every surface you can reach. Spay again with the hose. Dry in the sun. If not
sunny revolve frame so that it does not get one spot that all of the residue rests into. DO NOT put
any lantern or parts into an oven for any reason. I know guys that have and this is not a good
idea. If you get unexpected rain, let them dry in a garage or basement floor on newspaper.

(5) At this point there are choices. One is back to the lye if you are very unhappy with the
look of the metal, another choice is to move onto the finish process another is to try the  
super shine method. I don't usually use use this step but my mentor (the late Stanley
Roberts of Maine) taught me this way. Look in Richard Barrett's lantern book to see a fraction
of what was once in Stan's collection. Taste, degree of intended finish and effort determine
the branch.

(5a) For pitted frames my mentor, Stanley Roberts, used Naval Jelly. It's a marine rust product.
Stan's lanterns shine like no others. I still recognize them today. You use very
soft metal or plastic toothbrushes and get every speck of dark pitting out. There are many collectors who like their lanterns shiny and many who like a more dull or dark finish. This is purely a matter of taste and not like the sin of polishing a coin. The naval jelly is applied multiple
times with repeat dunks into more clean water and lots of rubbing. For resale I have never done
this step because of the time required and my own backlog of keepers that never even get a dip.
I will admit on a sunny day in the Summer I may take out the naval jelly for Stan I will brush a
few down with a smile on my face.

(5b) Many collectors just use a finish coat of 0000 steel wool and buffing using things like more Q-tips.

(5c) If you choose to use a wire wheel, be very careful. The scratch marks are hard to hide
once you put them into the metal. This is a very advanced technique and I would say stay away
unless you practice a lot on junkers and have a source for very soft metal brushes. 

(6) Final finish is a very subjective step. Arguments have come up about how to do this correctly.
Some of the methods include every thing from:  
 
 o Commercial dull coat spray 
 o Commercial shiny spray 
 o Motor oil rub (really)
 o Furniture polish rub 
 o Bowling alley floor wax (honest) 
 o Nothing 
 
This, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder and everyone has their own way of applying and
appreciating a finish coat. If you have damp storage, like a basement, you probably have to do
something.  

(7) Other cleaning methods: I have known guys who have used bead/sand blasting machines but these tend to leave a less than honest finish on the metal. I know two guys who use Dremmel moto model tools to polish/grind some of the detail work. The disk cutter must come in handy on restoration work too. I don't use these but they have merits if not over-done. I you choose either, practice on many junkers before doing a "keeper". 

Dopie truths:
- A. When I worked full time I had the tanks going and went on vacation. I left a decent B&M
brasstop in the Bucket #1. We were in Switzerland for 3 weeks and I didn't even notice what
had happened when we got home. Yes, the brasstop bellbottom lantern was scrap. It's interesting
to see what the lye does to the older solder joints. There were many small parts at the bottom
 of the bucket to be recovered. Don't forget things in the vats. Especially Bucket #1. Because
 I do more production work than most this is not a huge surprise but just a footnote to what
 NOT to do. I now use a wide angle coat harger to "scrape" the bottom of bucket #1 between
 dips just to check.

- B. A have been asked about lantern restoration. This is a touchy subject to me. I have
always believed that if you could get a "parts" lantern that matched your original... do anything
you have to do to make it right. I have many special tools and techniques that I choose not to
reveal. I have tools and techniques that the dark side should not have!

- C. Several things have happened over the years. Repro parts, reputations and other things have been destroyed. Back when lanterns were rarely worth more than $100 this sort of thing seemed silly. Today it is of much concern. There are reputations that have been destroyed by making reproduction parts. Make them innocently or make em' for profit, there's no difference. It's a trip to the dark side. One guy I know has has his reputation destroyed because of this stuff and I would discourage anyone from doing this stuff unless their items have clear and unremovable markings.    

2008 Copyright - Scott Czaja