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Cleaning and Grading Parts
As we have stated previously, we buy more than sell and are so thankful for YouTube posts on cleaning LEGO and on our buying experiences!
BrickOwl policy states that parts sold should be Clean-
A combination of very helpful videos have guided our cleaning process:
Cleaning:
Use an Oxo salad spinner and its basket to immerse parts in Dawn and agitate by hand.
Use an acrylic brush to scrub any visible debris.
Rinse in clear water.
Rinse again with a good measure of vinegar in the rinse water to avoid water spots.
Spin twice to remove excess water.
Tip out to a towel and air dry. Use a clean cloth to wipe any excess water from large parts.
Use alcohol to clean any excess water spots or debris from window parts...or to remove adhesive residue from stickers removed from parts.
Grading:
You really have to have your hands on new parts to understand the gloss and quality. The same with what might be listed as "Used-Good". We really have to thank @Calibrick for our orders from them on this condition- it actually made us re-grade several of our listings to "Used-Acceptable"!-
[ Love you all! ] We still have those Used, Acceptable listed for those who need them at that price point...and a part that will be valued by someone!
Remembering a terrible buy from BL where the 100's qty parts were filthy- They kept posting on the Forum- "Thanks for the Great Feedback" until someone finally wrote a response, "here's some feedback: your store sucks" We don't ever want to be that store.
Our family builds and, in doing so, buys lots from known sources, for extra parts, and the remaining parts need work to list- and our builders have said over and over, that running this store, and doing the work to clean, grade, and verify ("always auditing"), is a "Labor of Love"- That it Is!
BrickOwl policy states that parts sold should be Clean-
A combination of very helpful videos have guided our cleaning process:
Cleaning:
Use an Oxo salad spinner and its basket to immerse parts in Dawn and agitate by hand.
Use an acrylic brush to scrub any visible debris.
Rinse in clear water.
Rinse again with a good measure of vinegar in the rinse water to avoid water spots.
Spin twice to remove excess water.
Tip out to a towel and air dry. Use a clean cloth to wipe any excess water from large parts.
Use alcohol to clean any excess water spots or debris from window parts...or to remove adhesive residue from stickers removed from parts.
Grading:
You really have to have your hands on new parts to understand the gloss and quality. The same with what might be listed as "Used-Good". We really have to thank @Calibrick for our orders from them on this condition- it actually made us re-grade several of our listings to "Used-Acceptable"!-
[ Love you all! ] We still have those Used, Acceptable listed for those who need them at that price point...and a part that will be valued by someone!
Remembering a terrible buy from BL where the 100's qty parts were filthy- They kept posting on the Forum- "Thanks for the Great Feedback" until someone finally wrote a response, "here's some feedback: your store sucks" We don't ever want to be that store.
Our family builds and, in doing so, buys lots from known sources, for extra parts, and the remaining parts need work to list- and our builders have said over and over, that running this store, and doing the work to clean, grade, and verify ("always auditing"), is a "Labor of Love"- That it Is!
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Re cleaning, here is our procedure (it's pretty close to yours) - we tend to buy 10-20 giant lots from various sites, so clean a couple of hundred pounds at once in batches. This is our process:
1. Presort, removing all parts that do not meet our personal Used-Good criteria (NO bite marks, no major scratches beyond light playwear, no discoloration, no torn decals, etc. - note publicly anything we still want to sell that has a major issue such as a decal set upside down, or a big scratch and list that as Used-Acceptable or Used-Good, depending on what the issue is (then recycle the rest we're not selling). We very rarely used "like new" as my experience is that is in the eye of the beholder... that's just a personal choice though! :-)
2. Soak overnight in 5-gallon bucket in very hot (but not scalding) water with a few generous squirts of dawn and the barest hint of bleach. If decals are properly placed (all the way down), you can even soak these believe it or not. If not properly placed and they're small (like on a 1x1 cheese slope), they may float off. To be clear, just a TOUCH of bleach (like 1/16 tsp) - we want to kill bacteria, but not damage the bricks. Also, you want hot water to soak off gunk, but not too hot to warp the plastic - LEGO can take a pretty high heat though, you'd be surprised.
3. If there is any odor at all, rinse well in a collander, then soak overnight in a 5-gallon bucket that is 2 parts hot water, 1 part white vinegar - even kills smoke smells! :-) Does nothing for that rubbery odor that a lot of Bionicle parts have, FYI...
4. Rinse well in a collander (we use a salad spinner too, lol), spin most of the water off, then dump out on thick bath towels. Put ceiling fan on high for an hour or so, then leave them overnight or until you get time to rebox and weight them, trying not to trip on them in the dark since we use our bedroom floor for this. ;-)
And a lesson learned - if you have HARD WATER like we do in SoCal, you should wipe off most of the water from larger transparent parts (e.g., windshields, panels, larger dishes, windows, doors), else your water spots will show, sigh. I just grab it and give each a quick swipe on the towel as I'm pouring them out of the spinner to dry.
Finis!
Yes, most definitely and absolutely a labor of love!!! I don't usually mind a bit of dust on my LEGO when I buy it, but I hate it when someone sells me flat-out dirty LEGO.
I would love hints from someone on decal residue removal, though - I run into that a lot and almost inevitably end up recycling, or listing as acceptable with a note about the residue. Anything work well for anyone? Goo be gone? (I haven't tried that one yet)
I use a tiny amount of bike degreaser like GT85 or MO94 on a rag and it just wipes off.
Have worked on Habitat for Humanity houses and when we tried Goo B Gone on things like the existing 80's faucet knobs that were plexi we got a loss of sheen, although it took off the paint overspray from non-professionals who didn't use tarps trying to recapture bath walls...
My dad is a NASA engineer, and this is his solvent hierarchy:
"Mineral oil
Alcohol
Acetone (not recommended here unless you are wanting to develop LEGO paint...)
If all else fails, gasoline- if that fails- you can easily set it on fire..."
Dad is a Hoot!
But, yes, let's add these degreasers...
Now Well Known NASA term: "Destroyed by Repair" (whole story behind this on bolts on rivets that vibrated- shored up the rivet holes and assembly- then the whole thing too heavy to fly with the payload fuel- Back to square one)
D