vasco wrote:I've been using bleach with success.
I'd rather prefer to get some residue than catch some bug from the stem. In one step you remove the oxidation and make dam sure that the stem is biologically clean.
If using it pure than a bath of 15 or 30 minutes is enough, but it's better to mix it with the same quantity of water. Than you can let the stem soak in for a few hours.
Afterwards I clean the steam with running water and if I have the time I let it a few hours in water.
Then it's time for alcohol and a ton of pipe cleaners. The alcohol removes every trace of bleach odor and any leftover tar that at this time will be very soft.
At this point the stem will be very ugly but will be clean.
I usually then sand at 400 600 800 and 1000 and don't have to worry about sanding too much, just sand slow and carefully.
Than it's time for brown tripoli with a felt wheel, ___very___ carefully, a felt wheel can got very hot very fast.
White diamond and carnauba, it's done...
This is almost exactly the way I have been doing oxidized stems for the last 5 years or so.
Alcohol and bleach are both good disinfectants, but using alcohol with pipe cleaners dramatically reduces contact time, because the alcohol will dry out very quickly. So, if you don't use bleach then you should give the stems an alcohol bath, overnight is not too much as the alcohol will not corrode the stem.
This is almost exactly the way I have been doing oxidized stems for the last 5 years or so. I dilute the bleach and give the stem a good scrubbing with soap and hot water,inside and out, after removing from the bleach.