Vinegaroon

[Glock21]

Does roon go bad if its not used?

[katsass]

Does roon go bad if its not used?

I, as a general rule, pour off about a quart of the stuff about once a year, dump it and add a quart of fresh vinegar and a cleaned pad of 0000 steel wool. I let it work for a week or maybe two and strain. It seems to keep it good. I've heard that the stuff will lose it's strength over time....how much time it takes, I'm not sure. Mike

[Denster]

I've had the same batch for over two years. Still works great but the smell has pretty much gone away.

[TwinOaks]

After 3 years, my batch decided that gray was all it was gonna do. I added a little vinegar and it seemed to refresh, but then it puttered out again. So, I just made a new batch for black things, and I'm using the old batch for gray. Incidentally, if you put some in a small jar for portability and leave a zinc coated dauber (the one's that come in a box w/ fiebings dye) the 'roon WILL eat the zinc and make the whole batch produce a sickly gray green color.

[Nod4Eight]

Good to know it will last that long. I have a question about the smell. Is the leather supposed to smell like a horrid pickled fish smell after drying from the roon dip? If not, any ideas what I did wrong? If that's normal, how do you get rid of that smell?

[katsass]

Good to know it will last that long. I have a question about the smell. Is the leather supposed to smell like a horrid pickled fish smell after drying from the roon dip? If not, any ideas what I did wrong? If that's normal, how do you get rid of that smell?

Well, I dunk my stuff in the 'roon, saturate well, then dunk in a mild bath of baking soda and water for a minute or so. Follow that with a rinse in clear water . The odor seems to be gone in a couple of days. Mike

[Nod4Eight]

Thanks! I'll give that a try.