Silly question…

[tmac1956]

Here’s a little comparison that I did with three “sticky” items: Rodico, Silly Putty, and something called Tacky that I found at Hobby Lobby:

Beginning:

Cleaning a Jewel with Rodico:


Comparison continued…

[tmac1956]

Same Jewel with Silly Putty:

Something called “Tacky”:

It seems to me that the Silly Putty flows and adheres into tiny crevices better than the other two.

Any thoughts?

Tom

[willofiam]

Hey Tom, good start on the “silly” experiment , very interesting, was that just laying them on there or pressed in? if pressed in what kind of pressure did you use?
I would want to know a few more things about these materials.
1. which one cleans better?
2. which one leaves the least amount of film or residue?
3. which one is the easiest to handle?
4. cost comparison
If you have some old movements try each material on a separate area, smudge up the plates or polished parts with pizza and Cheetos fingers, another thing is how do they remove oil and grit on parts and tools like after sharpening a graver, or a dirty pivot, ect…..and maybe test different intervals of cleaning time and the results for each interval. I think you have a microscope, get a good close-up look at it all. appears your having some fun , William

[tmac1956]

William:

I think I can answer a few of these, but you are correct about testing the really dirty stuff and doing so under different scenarios.
I pressed on the substances hard enough to get the jewel impression and clean dirt and residue out of the jewel hole.

Anyway…
1. which one cleans better?
I think its the Silly Putty, but it might be that Rodico is better on some things. The Tacky stuff might better handle the cleaning of gravers and large parts.

2. which one leaves the least amount of film or residue?
Again, it probably depends of the size and type of the task. On small stuff, I’d go with SP.

3. which one is the easiest to handle?
They all seem to be easy to handle.

4. cost comparison
Silly Putty = $1.00 (Toys ‘R Us)
Tacky stuff = $1.99 (Hobby Lobby)
Rodico Premium = $9.95 (ebay with Free shipping)

I would like to see you guys test these a little. This is probably a trivial thing, but I haven’t seen anyone do this before. Obviously, there are probably other substances available as well. Uncle Larry has something called Dry-Kleen, but I can’t find this stuff in my area.

http://www.execulink.com/~lfoord/101962a.jpg

Rub-off might be a contender as well.
http://www.jewelerssupplies.com/product3329.html

Someone could probably get a Phd by figuring out what substance works best under a unified set of conditions.

If you will list different ways that you use these substances, perhaps we could get a standard testing metric against which any substance could be tested providing usable data.

Alternately, perhaps I should just stop procrastinating with this trivia and get busy reparing watchs and building tools. 😳

Thanks!
Tom

[arutha]

Rub off is made by AF Swiss and is their answer to Rodico. It is a lot stiffer than Rodico and not quite as absorbent and a fair bit cheaper (almost half the price). Just like Rodico when it starts to get old it leaves residue behind. I tend to use it a lot as an extra hand for holding things. Although I prefer Rodico I still use Rub Off for certain things and now almost see it as a different tool.
Paul.

[tmac1956]

Arutha:

Thanks.. I’ll grab some Rub Off and add your uses of it to my list.

Later,
Tom

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