Large Scale Central

Old C & O RY Oil Can

General Discussion
#1

My wife’s mother passed a year ago Memorial Day, and her father 15 years before that. Marilyn and her siblings are finally emptying her mother’s house and she came across an old long spout railroad oil can and saved it for me. It looks to be in great condition and C & O R Y is stamped into the bottom. Her grand father worked on the C & O and this is one of several C&O railroadiana items she has found for me. Most have been pristine, like a sealed deck of playing cards, but someone decided to “improve” the look of this can with copper spray paint.

I’d like to restore it to the original raw tin finish, but am afraid to try just any pain remover for fear of damaging the oxidation on the tin. Has anyone here had experience with this ?

BTW, when I saw the stamp I knew it had value, but I way overestimated what that might be. from what I’ve seen $100 would be a lot for a can in excellent original (used) condition.

JR

#2

I’ve never known paint remover or lacquer thinner to remove oxidation or tarnish. Many times I’ve wished it would. That usually takes acid. What I would be concerned with is scratching the finish, tarnish or whatever and putting scratches in the metal trying to get the paint off. Is is painted all the way to the tip? Is it empty? How about suspending upside down with just the tip in a laquer thinner or paint remover and allow to hang there for a couple of days. I think what you want to see is the paint just bubble up and wipe off. Its going to be slow and messy. Try not to wipe the paint off into the solvent or remover. Probably lots of paper towels and not reusing any of them. Just thoughts.

#3

Ric’s right , try putting the tip in a little pot of MEK , that dissolves paint without attacking the metal or its oxidants . The trick is to “dab” at the paint to prevent dragging and scratching . Best done outdoors unless you want to finish up with a headache .
Interesting find , by the way .Is it one of those long spout things the fireman would have used to oil the motion ?
Mike

#4
Ric Golding said:
Is is painted all the way to the tip? Is it empty?
Yes and Yes. The tip unscrews from the can base and theres also a filler cap that unscrews. It is empty and dry inside. The threads are just a little rusty.
Mike Morgan said:
Interesting find , by the way .Is it one of those long spout things the fireman would have used to oil the motion ?
Yes Mike, I think so. Marilyn says her grandfather was a fireman on the Chessie.

I’ll try and get a picture posted this weekend.

Thanks for the MEK tip. I’ll have to get some. I have Acetone in stock, but no MEK.

JR