This was the first thread where I have read of what excess oil can do to a Paulson inlay. I thought they were pretty much impervious to anything being that the inlay was pressed in place.
So did a lot of people at one time. It was first brought to my attention after the release of the very large quantity of primary set
PCA chips -- they were nasty filthy, and a variety of different cleaning methods were in use (and being explored/tested) at that time.
Simple Green, Resolve Carpet Cleaner, OxyClean, automotive tire/rim cleaners, etc. were all being tried at various strengths, temperatures, and soak times in an effort to acheive a cleaning approach that would effectively remove the sludge and grime with minimal effort, time, and damage to the chips.
It was discovered that a combination of excessive temperature and soak times would actually cause many solutions to seep under inlays, and shaped inlays were definitely more susceptible to this type of damage. Depending on the type (and cleanliness) of the solution, it would either eventually evaporate completely leaving no trace, or leave a discoloration similar to the chips referenced in this thread.
At the same time, a variety of different oiling methods were also explored, in an effort to minimize the amount of time and effort required to adequately oil thousands of chips. It was discovered that excessive oil soak times could cause a similar discoloration effect on chips containing shaped inlays.
It was around that same time when additional testing and experimentation was performed to determine what solutions were safe or not for hot-stamped chips, and commonly available chips using other material compositions than older leaded Paulson (new Paulsons,
BCC, ASM, ceramics, and china clays).
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