Let me start by stating that I fully respect Mike Hunters knowledge, skills and abilities, but I’ve also experimented with alcohols as a desiccant and have found that water , etc will still remain in a rib space flushed with alcohol. I’ve used good quality denatured for my experiments. I’ve found the following statement (not mine) to be true:

“When alcohol is mixed with water, it forms an azeotropic mixture, meaning it has a boiling point lower than either pure alcohol or water. This means that some water will always remain in the mixture, even after the alcohol has evaporated”.

One thing I did notice when flushing the rib space with denatured is the amount of rosin flux that breaks away and is subsequently flushed out….its a good way to clean in between the rib space for sure.

I’ve come to the conclusion that if the ribs are leaking and water is entering the space….and a full rib relay isn’t practical, needed, or cost effective…..drilling weep holes and using dry compressed air is the way to go. I used to be totally against this, but I’ve wisened up. I was convinced this was the way to go after having several conversations with a couple of highly respected craftsman (an Austrian, a Swiss, and a couple of Americans). Drilling tiny weep holes, drying with dry compressed air, and using a high quality water displacing oil, making tiny plugs to finish off the job looks pretty good and most people wouldn’t even notice.

I also strictly use abrasives for polishing. My mantra is if the barrels don’t look chrome plated before blacking-finishing they aren’t ready yet. When I look down the side of the tubes and see any light breaking along the surface, that needs to be corrected. Some will say polishing to that level is detrimental, I’ve found that be false as well.

This is how they should look before finishing:
[Linked Image from i.ibb.co]