doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Baking Soda, Chlorine, and Guns

Yesterday morning I had a stopped up sewer main at my house. It caused a backup that went over the top of the shower pan and ran sewer water over some of my canvas and leather trunk cases and my Americases. They were stacked in shelves in the old boiler room below the shower.

So I wiped the wet areas down with the Chlorox wipes and dried them off with paper towels. I also sprinkled baking soda over the wet areas. The sewer water was both inside and out of some of the cases. After everything dried I vacuumed the baking soda out of and off the cases.

Now I am worried about putting guns in those cases that had the (diluted) chlorine and baking soda inside them. If I ever knew enough chemistry to predict the outcome I have forgotten it.

Best,

Mike

You've made salt. Some of it may have permeated the cloth interiors and I'd be concerned, too. Can't say for sure what it would take to get my confidence back. Sounds as though the cases are used for transport and not long term storage ... maybe now is a good time to shine up a piece of mild steel and lock it up in each case for a few weeks to see how it fairs.

Figure out which guns you own are compatible with sewer water, in any form. I have one, a Cooey Arms, Winchester badged single shot with a birch stock. Maybe all of your guns are compatible with sewer water, maybe none.Put the guns you own that are compatible with sewer water in the soiled cases.
Then, throw the rest of the cases away. It will be cheap compared to having a decent gun refinished.
Maybe your shooting student has a bunch of guns that are compatible with sewer water, and you could sell them to him. Cheap.
You need better storage for your gun cases, by the way.


Best,
Ted

Mike's right! The Cl will rust stainless, mild steel is an even easier target to rust. Will your homeowners replace them?

bill

Yikes, salt. I feel some of your pain, Mike. What a drag.

Even dumb people do dumb things sometimes. Crap. (no pun intended).

Thanks for the information.

Best,

Mike

So did the linings get wet? Sounds like they did. You are at a split in the road. You can either go for full dilution with lots of water followed by careful drying or stripping out the liners and redoing them. Water is chlorinated so it becomes a matter of concentrations. One part per million is ok, one to one is not. The last thing you want to do is another Browning salt gun stock program.

The liners did get wet. Small areas of the liner got wet. Maybe 20 square inches in each case.

I am thinking about dissecting the two trunk cases - an old British canvas case and a Jeff's Outfitters leather case. Then posting the pictures here of their construction. The British case was in very poor but usable condition.

My shooting student Joe Wood recommended I send the Americase back to the factory and pay them to reline it.

Am also considering the mild steel test that Mike Campbell suggested as a possible test.

But the damage is done and I have time to decide what I am going to do.

Mike, you have a fertile imagination to have come up with that brew.

Chloride salts are very water soluble as are many of the other solids left behind by the other "liquids" that got in there. Just rinse in off well and let it dry. Maybe set it in front of a dehumidifier to dry it. P.S. I work with these liquids everyday. Rinse well and dry.