Old canteen cleaning

I’ve got an old canteen, I’m sure it’s older than I am and it used to be my dads. It’s been sitting in a garage for a LONG time. I checked it today to see if it still hold water/not rotted out, holds water with no leaking. Is there a recommendation for cleaning it up? It has slight aluminum oxidation. Thanks!

 

Try adding a bunch of Stainless steel BB's and water and shake the living bejesus out of it!

 

thats aluminum right?

I agree with @evilunclegrimace , buncha 1/4" ball bearings , buncha dish soap, and hot water and shake the Devil out of that canteen. Rinse WELL with hot water and let dry. I would go once step further and order some Brewers Pitch from Townsend & Sons and melt it and line the interior of the canteen with the brewers pitch. It will form a hard non toxic barrier between the old aluminum and the water.

Are you planning on re-covering the outside wool/felt? If so that will make re-lining the canteen MUCH easier, as you can apply a heat gun to the outside of the canteen so the Brewers Pitch melts and covers the canteen interior. Once done re-cover the outside with new wool/felt material (3m Adhesive spray works AWESOME for gluing fabrics to hard materials)

 

@Bushman5, yes it’s aluminum. Thanks for the info, both of you! I really appreciate it. I hadn’t planned to doing the outside, but now you have me thinking.

 

If you have one of those chainmail cast iron scrubbers I’d toss that sucker in there.

 

Here is a place to get ball bearings fairly inexpensively .

https://bearingballstore.com/

 

...or use sand and shake harder!

 

Or hang it up on the wall with other cool gear and buy a stainless bottle/canteen (I'm not a fan of aluminum lol)

 

Got them cleaned out. Thank you for all the replies.