[Phono-L] Waxing DD

[Bruce Mercer]

Fascinating. I appreciate learning something like this from someone who 
knows. Would you guess, then,  that they used benzine as the stearin 
solvent?
Just like everything else these days, what's on the label does not 
necessarily mean what it did 100 yrs. ago. Benzine now comes in a can 
(Naptha) printed underneath!



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rich" <rich-mail at octoxol.com>
To: "Antique Phonograph List" <phono-l at oldcrank.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 12:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Waxing DD


> Ether goes anhydrous real easy and explodes.  The benzine of yore is the 
> complete benzine ring.  Naphtha is not the complete ring and lacks all of 
> the solvent properties of the old style benzine.  It's also slightly less 
> likely to rot your brain.
>
> Bruce Mercer wrote:
>> Thanks Rich,
>> I wondered about benzine (naptha) as it was widely used for many years as 
>> a solvent. It evaporates quickly as well. My guess is that benzine was 
>> used. Ether was even more flammable than benzine or alcohol... or they 
>> problably would have been passed out sleeping on the job.
>> Bruce
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rich" <rich-mail at octoxol.com>
>> To: "Antique Phonograph List" <phono-l at oldcrank.org>
>> Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 11:45 AM
>> Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Waxing DD
>>
>>
>>> In the Blue Amberol book there is a description of the manufacturing 
>>> process.  The last rinse leaves a slight lubricant on the cylinder.  It 
>>> will be all gone by now even if the cylinder being examined is NOS.
>>>
>>> Stearin is soluable in ether and benzene.  Benzine was very popular in 
>>> years gone by as the solvent of choice for many things.
>>>
>>> Bruce Mercer wrote:
>>>> DD were "waxed" starting in about 1920 with stearin. Stearin is a 
>>>> triglyceride and is found in heavy fats, animal and plant, palm oil 
>>>> being one. It is insoluable in water and somewhat soluable in alcohol. 
>>>> It's basically a hardener. I'm guessing it was mixed with alcohol for 
>>>> the DD. Obviously this wouldn't have been done with BA. I have my 
>>>> doubts as to anyone 'seeing' it on a cylinder, if indeed it was ever 
>>>> used on a cylinder. I've opened unopened boxes of DD from the factory 
>>>> and you can tell nothing visually different from a mint copy that's 
>>>> been played and taken care of in a machine. (The use of stearin is 
>>>> discussed in Ron Dethlefson's book, Edison Diamond Discs Re-Creations 
>>>> Record & Artists 1910-1929. DIAMON DISC RECORD PRODUCTION. PAGE 151.
>>>>  The only proper thing to clean DD is denatured alcohol as it has 
>>>> almost no water content. As for a light coating after that type of 
>>>> cleaning, I have experimented with different brands. It has a small 
>>>> effect on worn records, taking a very little of the hiss away and 
>>>> hiding grey grooves for the unscrupulous that may want to put lipstick 
>>>> on a pig and put it on ebay. It would be interesting to know the exact 
>>>> procedure used in using stearin, as it was used for a wear retardant.
>>>> My .02
>>>> Bruce M.
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