Pot Restoration?

[TeaviewsTroy]

Has anyone ever had much luck restoring unglazed pots (yixing or otherwise) that they bought/found somewhere and have been improperly stored or used? I found an old one in a Grandparents Garage, pictures at the address below.

I know its not actual yixing, but rather a cheap "tourist" type pot, but I figure I might as well experiment on reviving it and not ruin a more expensive pot. The clay is really dark, in a dingy sort of way, and it smelled a bit of liver the first time I used it, after a mild bleach bath (based on advice I found on a blog) and repeated soaking I was able to get that down to a rancid citrus smell.

The tea tastes ok, not great, but not appearing to be negatively affected, but I probably won't be using this one much anyways.Any ideas?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14817486@N ... 082611006/

[MarshalN]

If this is post cleaning, then I fear this is the best it's going to do.

A lot of these pots were covered in shoe polish or other types of oil. If the surface of the pot is still sticky, then that's probably what's on it. I'd stay away.

[TIM]

My suggestion is brushing it with clean scotch brite all over, then boil it for 2 hrs with a bit of salt. Put it inside a cold oven and turn to 350F for 2 hrs. Shut off heat and cool for another 2 hrs. After cool then reboil it from cold water to boiling for another hr. Soak it again in bleach for another 2 days. Rinse, brush and soak for another day in water. Lots of work

[TeaviewsTroy]

So basically... I should just keep it on a shelf for the neat (if ill defined) dragon on the side, and go no further. Which is fine, as stated, it was free for me, and cheap for my Grandmother.

But along the same lines, has anyone found a good (as apposed to this el cheapo) pot that they've restored? You see alot online about fixing cracks, but very little about rejuvenating a pot for usage thats been stored/used improperly.

[MarshalN]

I've cleaned a few extremely dirty pots in the past.

[GreenwoodStudio]

I suggest to you to seek out a potter who would be willing to re-fire the pot to bisque temp. This would effectively burn out any organics that may have accumulate in the claybody over the years. You would just have to make sure that they fire it slow to eliminate any moisture that may be bonded with the clay.