Cleaning Dead Lame

[MaddMatt05]

I recently tried cleaning a sabre lame cuff glove that had turned completely green, and failed to conduct. I used CLR to clean it and it worked! After soaking it in CLR, it was no longer green, and worked again for about 3 months. I was wondering if anyone else has tried using CLR to clean lames? I have only used it on my completely dead, cheap glove. I would be apprehensive to try it on something more expensive, since I believe it is corrosive. I was also wondering what other ways have people tried cleaning lames?

[Purple Fencer]

Originally Posted by MaddMatt05

I recently tried cleaning a sabre lame cuff glove that had turned completely green, and failed to conduct. I used CLR to clean it and it worked! After soaking it in CLR, it was no longer green, and worked again for about 3 months. I was wondering if anyone else has tried using CLR to clean lames? I have only used it on my completely dead, cheap glove. I would be apprehensive to try it on something more expensive, since I believe it is corrosive. I was also wondering what other ways have people tried cleaning lames?

There are lame washing instructions on my website (see my signature block). IDEALLY you should clean the lame on a regular basis (depending on how often you fence) before the green corrosion starts, tho!

[FoilyDeath]

On a random note, whilst this may be true for conventional lames, I use 2 LP ultralights (on for practise, one for competition) and have had them for 3 or so years. I've never ever washed any, and yet they all work just fine.

[Purple Fencer]

Originally Posted by FoilyDeath

On a random note, whilst this may be true for conventional lames, I use 2 LP ultralights (on for practise, one for competition) and have had them for 3 or so years. I've never ever washed any, and yet they all work just fine.

That depends on how you care for them....if you hang them up, don't stuff them in your bag, don't throw your nicked up blades or wet clothing on them, they'll last longer.

Sadly, a lot of fencers do exactly what i just said NOT to do.

[fencerbill]

There is no universal recipe for Lame care.

It depends on the material. What works for stainless may not be best for nickle based or lightweight or copper/silver or Infinity.

What kind of Lame material was on this risen-from-the-dead glove?

[MaddMatt05]

I think it was copper/silver. It was a really inexpensive glove, and after I cleaned it, it had a copper hue.

[remise]

It DOES depend on the material. I have an older Allstar Lame, which I clean with a bit of soap and amonia. My LP lame, however, came with instructions NOT to use soap unless absolutely necessary, and if so, the bare minimum, and a light washing down with water.

[wahrman]

I cleaned an old dead, copper lame in white vinegar. I had nothing to lose since
it was completely dead.

Now it works well. No dead spots. Won't pass a conductivity test, it's in the
10s of ohms or worse. But it works great for practice.

Vinegar will almost certainly be less destructive than CLR. And it tastes better.

[fencerbill]

Originally Posted by wahrman

I cleaned an old dead, copper lame in white vinegar. I had nothing to lose since
it was completely dead.

Now it works well. No dead spots. Won't pass a conductivity test, it's in the
10s of ohms or worse. But it works great for practice.

Vinegar will almost certainly be less destructive than CLR. And it tastes better.

Very typical of copper Lames. Unfortunately, the time until you will have to repeat the treatment becomes shorter the more times you have done it.

But don't despair, as long as it is fair to your opponents, go ahead and use it for practice and club bouting.

I have never heard of any chemical treatment that will help stainless Lames. And we have seen postings on how one treatment will absolutely ruin some of the newer materials.

[MaddMatt05]

On the topic of cleaning lames, I was wondering about the effectiveness of using starting fluid to clean the sweet off a lame right after a tournament. This is mostly for cheaper lames because they don't hang dry quickly, and its mostly an idea for those times when you can't hang it to dry after a competition. I haven't tried it yet, but I was thinking about it, and can't see the harm in it. The worst case scenario would be wasting the can of starting fluid and accomplishing nothing.

[Purple Fencer]

Originally Posted by MaddMatt05

On the topic of cleaning lames, I was wondering about the effectiveness of using starting fluid to clean the sweet off a lame right after a tournament. This is mostly for cheaper lames because they don't hang dry quickly, and its mostly an idea for those times when you can't hang it to dry after a competition. I haven't tried it yet, but I was thinking about it, and can't see the harm in it. The worst case scenario would be wasting the can of starting fluid and accomplishing nothing.

You want to use something flammable on an article of clothing??? Never mind the fire risk from any residue, think abot the health risk from any residual fumes.....bad idea.

[MaddMatt05]

There is no fire risk or residual fumes. I got the idea because we use starting fluid to clean stuff at the truck shop where I work. It takes starting fluid about 10 min to completely evaporate, we even weld and grind around stuff we have recently cleaned. I have never seen any flames caused by the fluid after it evaporates. The way it evaporates quickly is the reason it would help clean. I was thinking it would dissolve some of the salty sweat away. I wouldn't do this to something I was about to wear, but if you are finished fencing and want to get the sweat out of your lame before it does damage, I thought this might work well. Some starting fluids do leave a light lubrication behind, but I'm not really thinking about using those. They are more expensive anyway.

[SJCFU#2]

Originally Posted by MaddMatt05

There is no fire risk or residual fumes. I got the idea because we use starting fluid to clean stuff at the truck shop where I work. It takes starting fluid about 10 min to completely evaporate, we even weld and grind around stuff we have recently cleaned. I have never seen any flames caused by the fluid after it evaporates. The way it evaporates quickly is the reason it would help clean. I was thinking it would dissolve some of the salty sweat away. I wouldn't do this to something I was about to wear, but if you are finished fencing and want to get the sweat out of your lame before it does damage, I thought this might work well. Some starting fluids do leave a light lubrication behind, but I'm not really thinking about using those. They are more expensive anyway.

The solvents in the starting fluid might break down and rinse away petroleum-based contaminants, but that generally not the type of contamination you find on most lames. A wet lame is most likely soaked with sweat, which is mostly salt and water.

You could probably also get the same result using rubbing alcohol. However in the end all you would only be speeding up the evaporation of the water. The salt residue would remain behind and that is what will eventually destroy the lame.

[wbowman]

Originally Posted by MaddMatt05

I recently tried cleaning a sabre lame cuff glove that had turned completely green, and failed to conduct. I used CLR to clean it and it worked! After soaking it in CLR, it was no longer green, and worked again for about 3 months. I was wondering if anyone else has tried using CLR to clean lames? I have only used it on my completely dead, cheap glove. I would be apprehensive to try it on something more expensive, since I believe it is corrosive. I was also wondering what other ways have people tried cleaning lames?

Okay, sorry to be dense here, but what is CLR? Is this a brand name or a generic type of product? (I find a list of acronyms that refers to "calcium lime rust" cleaning solution).
And by the way, has anyone else tried this? I have some really old, really dead lames that I wouldn't mind experimenting on, but if someone else has some results to report, so much the better.

[Pescados666]

Originally Posted by wbowman

Okay, sorry to be dense here, but what is CLR? Is this a brand name or a generic type of product? (I find a list of acronyms that refers to "calcium lime rust" cleaning solution).
And by the way, has anyone else tried this? I have some really old, really dead lames that I wouldn't mind experimenting on, but if someone else has some results to report, so much the better.

Yes, that's it. Might as well try it on the lame's if they're that dead.

[Monash_Armourer]

Originally Posted by wbowman

Okay, sorry to be dense here, but what is CLR? Is this a brand name or a generic type of product? (I find a list of acronyms that refers to "calcium lime rust" cleaning solution).
And by the way, has anyone else tried this? I have some really old, really dead lames that I wouldn't mind experimenting on, but if someone else has some results to report, so much the better.

CLR is short for "Calcium Lime Rust". We certainly have it here in Aus, I'm not sure about other countries. It's designed for heavy duty descaling of things like shower heads, coffee pots/filters/espresso machine boilers and a few other things. I'd note that it is cautioned against use on fabrics, however I've got some (read something like 7 dead lames) I'm about to have a go at tomorrow, and I might try using some of it on some of the more definitely dead ones.

If anybody can tell me what lames are copper, steel or anything else I'd be grateful, as with some I'm not entirely sure.

For reference they are:

-4 Leon Paul Lames - I'm not entirely sure what material these are, as they're about 4-5 years old at least, I wasn't around the when they were purchased. The inside lining is all green if that helps. They likely only need a wash, maybe some vinegar, but there are definite dead spots on some.

-An Uhlmann Lame - quite dead 4-5 years old again.

-Another LP - significant corrosion, front panel is entirely dead. Maybe some CLR.

-A Large Esun - Extremely large dead spot on chest, with significant green scale/corrosion. Will try an Orange based cleaner, descaler and some CLR. This is deader than dead, no loss.


If people would like to give me some info/suggestions, I can report back once done. I might even take some pictures of the deader ones for reference.

[SJCFU#2]

Someone did an experiment with restoring a dead lame using various cleaning chemicals a few years back - try looking at this thread.

[Monash_Armourer]

Originally Posted by SJCFU#2

Someone did an experiment with restoring a dead lame using various cleaning chemicals a few years back - try looking at this thread.

I believe I've seen this before.

You cannot purchase Woolite over here for regular Lame washes. I am not sure of the equivalent product as I neither know what specifically it is, or the active chemicals in it. The Clorax product sounds similar to the Orange based cleaner I have, which I've used to revive entirely dead lames before, they tend to fail a few months after this however.

Artisan fails to mention what make of jacket, or what the jacket material is. The CLR will likely kill any lames with copper in them, but I'm not sure.

If I can find out what materials the lames are, I can get a better idea of the chemistry involved, then I can head down to an industrial cleaning supply and have a browse for something more appropriate.

[SJCFU#2]

Originally Posted by Monash_Armourer

If I can find out what materials the lames are, I can get a better idea of the chemistry involved, then I can head down to an industrial cleaning supply and have a browse for something more appropriate.

If it has developed green spots (especially around the collar or harm holes) then it probably contains copper (often plated with nickel to reduce corrosion).

If it's aged to a dull grey (but no green) then there's a good chance it's stainless steel.

[Inquartata]

Uhlmann=stainless.

LP=stainless.

Esun...I have never heard of that brand, so I can't say. However, if it's a budget lame or is from China or Korea almost certainly copper.

Ivory Snow makes a good Woolite substitute. Not sure that's sold abroad, either. But any bleach-free detergent made for "delicate" fabrics should do the trick.