citric acid

[Drip Curl Magic]

ello, ello. hypographers! long time no see.

(how's it goin'?)


anyways, I've come with a question.
Is there any sort of easy do-it-yourself way of extracting cirtric acid from an orange?

Someone told me to just sqeeze the orange, but that would give me orange juice.
And I'm looking for a more acidic substance, like the tiny amount of bitter juice that you can squeeze out of an orange peel if you squeeze reeeally really hard.

anyone got any ideas?

[Buffy]

Why do you want to do this?

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple,
Buffy

[Drip Curl Magic]

I'm actually using citric acid to clean some ink off of my classical guitar.

(after some experimentation, I found that citric acid in combination with prisma color markers are really good for getting rid of sharpie stains)

But it's rather tedious to sit there and rub orange peels all over the back of my guitar.

[Racoon]

You can also use lemons.

[Drip Curl Magic]

Originally Posted by Racoon

You can also use lemons.

haha, I have those too!

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by Drip Curl Magic

Is there any sort of easy do-it-yourself way of extracting cirtric acid from an orange?

I’ve never tried to, but citric acid () in the form of calcium citrate () is a pretty common industrial produced chemical. I’ve got lots of little packets of it for use in a low power hydrogen electrolysis unit I got for XMass.

It’s made by taking something sweet (usually fermented) and adding lime (calcium hydroxide, ). If you want to strip the calcium from calcium citrate to get pure citric acid, you can add dilute sulfuric acid ().

Originally Posted by Drip Curl Magic

I'm actually using citric acid to clean some ink off of my classical guitar.

Have you tried commercial cleaners, like “Lemon Pledge”, “Orange Glow”, or a specialized instrument polish?

I’ve used such stuff for years with good effect to de-grunge the fretboards on all my stringed instruments. Whenever I change strings, I give them a good cleaning with the stuff.

I’ve never had to cope with a serious ink stain, though, so can’t say what would be best for that. Depending on the ink, rubbing alcohol can be good at lifting the ink out of the wood grain and/or varnish/wax – though it dries the wood, so should be followed by a good oil and wax.

[Drip Curl Magic]

Intrument polish was a no go, and rubbing alcohol didn't do it either.

which is when I decided to cover up the ugly sharpie with a solid black layer of prisma color marker ink all over the body of my guitar.

upon applying a bit of prisma color ink over one of the sharpie marks, I decided it was a bad idea, and quickly rubbed off the fresh ink with a wet washcloth, only to be astonished by the fact that the ink I had just applied to the guitar seemed to break down the old dry sharpie marks, making it easier to rub off.

but even then, there was still a bunch of half broken down sharpie and prisma color ink smeared across my guitar.

So, I decided to repeat to process, but this time, follow up by rubbing some sort of acidic substance after breaking down the sharpie....

And it worked!

It took me about a half an hour of solid rubbing but, it is now all off.

so, I guess my problem is solved and I don't really need the citric acid extract anymore. I'll have to invest in one of those bottles of acidic based cleaners so that I'm more prepaired next time.

Thanks everyone!

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by Drip Curl Magic

So, I decided to repeat to process, but this time, follow up by rubbing some sort of acidic substance after breaking down the sharpie....

And it worked!

So, what acidic substance did you use?

This is handy information – though I don’t have a lot to worry about with ink stains on my usual instruments, since they have black lacquer finishes. I do have a light wood finish fiddle, but regrettably don’t get it out much, being as I play it so badly.

[InfiniteNow]

If you cannot find a reasonable way to extract it yourself, most health food stores sell citric acid in little bottles... Check Whole Foods, for example.