Arch Rebuild: Cleaning the English tin pans

[Tidajo]

Insulating the rebuilt arch today, and have to prepare to clean the English Tin pans.

I know the solder contains lead, and that many think I should throw these pans in the scrap pile and buy stainless, but that's not the route I'm going.
I filled the pans with water and found one small leak in each. I understand that there may be more after cleaning.
I am determined to get this old baby up and running. I will follow advice ( let niter build up, don't scrub the solder, etc).
For the record, the syrup will be tested before any is consumed.

With all that being said, what is the best was to clean these? The black on the bottom of the syrup pan, and the light surface rust on the flue pan.
Clean water and baking soda with a scrubby made little impact.

After surfing through this site the last few weeks, I found this topic come up often, but never clearly answered. The posts are often about what not to do (no steel wool, no acid, etc), but no advice as to what works. Maybe the answer is nothing works.
An email to Leader went unresponded to.
There was one post about using pan acid, with a bad flavor after, and Leaders advice on how to fix it. No idea if the fix worked.
Another where someone used a wire brush on a grinder, but I am under the assumption that that's a bad idea. One from still active poster that vinegar and elbow grease worked, followed by a baking soda bath.

Any advice from anyone on what works?
And also, what do I do about the draw off boxes? Cut open the tops to clean and leave them open?

Thanks for all the help!
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[Sugarmaker]

Neighbor had some English tin Leader pans that were in about the same shape. We used dish soap hot water and start brushing and scrubbing. Rinse and repeat. catch the rinse water and see what it looks liek. if a lot of rust particles are still there then maybe go at it one more time.
We made light syrup that year and it was the first light I had ever made.
If you have the rig ready you might set them on make sure you have all the connections, fill them start a small fire and then do the scrubbing.
You might try vinegar/ water solution. fill the pans add 4 gallons of vinegar build a small fire and scrub and let set for several days.

Small holes can be soldered, or if small enough they may close up after boiling awhile.

Regards,
Chris

[wiam]

I would not clean much on the "soot" side. Last time I boiled on English tin pans we tried to clean bottom of pans and just caused more holes. And each boil made more. Good luck.

[Tidajo]

thanks for this advice.

But I'm going to guess that there are no "right way" or should I say "good way" to remove the surface rust.

I guess I'm going to try soda blasting or vinegar.
Any suggestions on how long of a vinegar soak I should do?

[VermontAltitude]

I have the same pans as you do and they need major cleaning, there is a lot of rust. I am just going to use them a couple more years and then dump em'. I recommend doing the same. Those pans are good but are lead soldered which is bad and considered illegal. Stainless is the new way to go, but a very expensive switch that needs to be done, sadly 😔


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[Tidajo]

I have the same pans as you do and they need major cleaning, there is a lot of rust. I am just going to use them a couple more years and then dump em'
I recommend doing the same. Those pans are good but are lead soldered which is bad and considered illegal. Stainless is the new way to go, but a very expensive switch that needs to be done, sadly 

. Your still boiling with the rust? I did have an Old Timer say, "If it doesn't blast off, or scrub off, why do you think it would boil off?"
Tin isn't illegal. the standard changed in the 90s but these pans are still widely used.


thanks!