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Flip sight with some Cosmoline
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Superdort View Drop Down
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Joined: Feb 02 2020
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    Posted: Nov 29 2025 at 11:39am
I bought this flip sight last week and it arrived this afternoon. It has some Cosmoline grease on it that is very hard. In the photos, it looks like rust. Leaf is stamped U and on the left side, an S is very faintly visible. It was once removed with a punch, causing some damage to the right side. Does anyone have any tips on how to remove the hard Cosmoline without causing further damage? 






Regards Rico
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Points: 100542 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Marty Black Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov 29 2025 at 2:01pm
Old hard cosmoline can be very difficult to remove. I'm hoping someone else will chime in with a better, less risky solution, but I've found that acetone is the best. It's available in hardware stores (In England, hardware stores are called Iron Mongers, which I find humorous. I have no idea what they are called in The Netherlands.)

The fumes of acetone are toxic (so use it outdoors or in a well-ventilated area), and acetone will eat rubber gloves and the hair on the back of your fingers! It will also eat the plastic bristles on the old toothbrush that you use to scrub the rear sight, so have a couple extra toothbrushes available.

But with all that said, acetone will also eat the old hard cosmoline without damaging the parkerizing. The sight will be left bone-dry gray, so apply some oil afterwards to restore the normal color to the sight.

Enjoy! :-)

Regards, mb
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Dan Pinto, How Can I help

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Points: 5527 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote New2brass Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov 29 2025 at 4:01pm
As a general cautionary statement, acetone is flammable. 
Nail polish remover contains acetone. So you may hove some on hand from the wife/girlfriend. 

If you heat the part the cosmoline will soften to the point you can wipe it down. Not too hot, just as much as you can still handle it.
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Points: 91 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DogDoc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov 29 2025 at 5:09pm
I’m with Dan on the heat. I use a little mini torch. Since I’ve started that, I’ve not used any chemicals at all. Good luck!
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Points: 231 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Superdort Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov 29 2025 at 5:50pm
Thanks for the tips. We have a 4-oven AGA Cooker, each oven of which has a different temperature. I'll put it in the 100 degrees Celsius oven tomorrow for 10 minutes. Let's see if I can get it clean then.
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Dan Pinto, How Can I help

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not do sure I would do it in my kitchen stove. There will be fumes. 
Also start at 50 - 55 c
You want to warm it, not cook it. 

You could also boil water. Pull off heat and add a few drops of dish soap. Then soak the part. But then you would have to remove all water, and then oil part so it does not flash rust
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Points: 231 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Superdort Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov 30 2025 at 2:24pm
The fumes won't be a problem. This is an English cast iron Aga Range Cooker that vents its fumes outside through an exhaust pipe. The flip sight has been in there for about an hour. After that, I was able to rub most of it off. Now it's sitting in Coca Cola to remove the little bit of surface rust on it. It may sound silly, but I've had the best experience with that for removing surface rust.
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Dan Pinto, How Can I help

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The leaf springs were blued. AKA black oxide
The rest was phosphate conversion (parkerizing)

Both are a form of oxidizating. AKA rust.

The Coca-Cola will remove all of the finish!

Note on the phosphate, it was designed so that it can hold oil on the surface in the noncrystalline finish. 
Things like acetone will remove these oils, so after cleaning a good oiling would be required. 
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I would just let it soak in some good old kerosene. It will dissolve a lot and certainly soften up the hard cosmolene and leave a protective oily filmed behind when it evaporates once you take it out of the kerosene. Dan is correct, the Coca-Cola will remove all the bluing which is just another form of rust which you do not want to do if the leaf is blued
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Points: 2307 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote floydthecat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov 30 2025 at 6:56pm
Leave it alone….it was on there for a purpose…😂.
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thank you Dan for that explanation, I knew soda would remove bluing but I did not know it would also remove the parkerizing too. I didn't know that Parkerizing was also a form of rust
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Dan Pinto, How Can I help

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Rico, any updates?
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Points: 231 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Superdort Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Dec 02 2025 at 2:37pm
Hi Dan,

Yes, most of the old cosmoline has been removed. There is still some left in the damaged areas, but that doesn't bother me. The leaf still looks good, only the base is missing its parkerizing. But that was to be expected. The S is now clearly visible. I'm going to oil it some more over the weekend. I'm very busy with work at the moment. Now you can also see how much it has been damaged by time.






Regards Rico
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Dan Pinto, How Can I help

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Rico, thanks for the update. Someone sure banged up that base. 

@ JonD, next time you are enjoying a cola product, take a look at the ingredients. 

Coca-Cola contains carbonated water, sugar (or high-fructose corn syrup), caramel color, phosphoric acid, and natural flavors, along with caffeine. 

Yep the same stuff that created a phosphate coating, though with a little more chemistry to it. 
the amount of acid is watered down by the carbonated water, but I bet if you warmed the coke up it would remove "rust' faster. 
Some rust removers, like navel jelly, have a higher concentration of phosphoric acid and will remove "rust" much faster.  
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thanks for the explanation Dan!
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For years my father used coal ash and coke in a sack to remove rust from car bumpers. it worked very well! It left the steel clean and bright.
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After it is dry, 
try to put some blue on the sides to darken them. 
(just an idea)
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