Posted by Wade on April 03, 2001 at 01:00:46:
In Reply to: Hot Lye posted by Jon on April 02, 2001 at 13:56:54:
Yes. This is the only really effective way that I have found to remove the gold-pigmented lacquer used on King instruments. The shop where I apprenticed has a really cool old lye bathing tank just to strip King horns, but it was only large enough to strip euphoniums and tuba bodies. The King tuba bells and Sousaphones were out of the question, however. We also had a great hot Trichloroethane bath and spray wand for degreasing freshly buffed beauties bound for the lacquering room...I guess we had a lacquering room too...
Hot lye is dangerous and nasty. But it has always worked for me on stubborn finishes. Try not to inhale or touch it too much. Wear a mask and gloves. Better yet, leave it to the pros. It is worth the expense if you need your axe stripped and it happens to be a King. But if you have almost any other brand of horn, Ferree's gel lacquer stripper (used by most shops that do this sort of thing) should be more than adequate for the task. Most of the stuff at Home Depot (et cetera) will not really do a very nice job.
MY experience talking here. YOUR mileage may vary.
Wade Rackley