Re: The mysterious pink powder to fix rust issue on chrome Guys the pink or white powder which is nothing but the whitish paste comes out from a gas welding machine, it is also called carbide. This stuff which is in rock form used by gas welders for welding purpose, this carbide is mixed along with water to create some kind of gas which along with oxygen becomes good agent to weld things (this is a lay man's narration, don't know the chemistry terms)
Now coming to the "chamkao" concept, in my early days of biking my uncle used to ask me to get some of this used carbide waste from the local welding guy and used to dry them, later filter them with the help of flour mesh (used by mom for filtering atta) make a thin paste by mixing with water and used to apply on all chrome parts with the help of a cloth and once dried used to clean with a dry cloth, this stuff gives good shine and doesn't harm the metal (at least till now since 25 yrs of my motoring experience)
as I suggested this I would also like to bring some trivia here, there is a lot of difference in chrome today and then, the bikes which I used to clean were B.S.A, Triumph etc which used to have copper coating on them and they never rusted however used to fade but the chrome now doesn't have the copper processing (most of the chrome plating units) so rusting is prone to be high. I have used these used carbide waste on T.V.S, Hero Puch, IND Suzuki and 57 Royal Enfield in my early biking days and never had any issues.
In case you wish to do it now I don't see any reason to shy but make sure there is no sand or any other silt which might develop scratches while rubbing with dry cloth, I still use it for my Jawa, Rajdoot and 62 royal enfield (which got chrome plated at least 2 times since it was purchased in 1984) and the new entry Avenger 220. |