Cleaning Carb Jets

What's the best way to clean old brass jets that have been sitting in an old bike for a long time?
I was thinking of using descaler as they look white and powdery and covered with what looks like scale from water (calcium)

Thanks
graeme

Soak jets in a solution half vinegar and half water. Use a toothbrush to clean the white crusty deposits. Don't poke with steel wires.

For the idle passageway in the body (which is the one that is probably clogged) I have gone the #78 drill bit route. Check the archives for much info on this. Normally it is not nice to run drill bits thru jets but in this case it was necessary. Even nasty carb cleaners don't work for this one.

I never use a drill in a jet. But I "have" used a gage pin. I own a machine shop and thus have pins from .003 to well over an inch in dia. I also have some brass wire I've been known to muck about in jets with. The thing to remember about jets is that they are not just a hole in a piece of brass. Many jets have tapers leading into and out of jets that effect the flow rate of fuel and it is quite easy to muck them up. Usually, I recommend people to replace them instead of screwing them up, but in the case of a lot of old bikes, they are not as readily available as Mikuni or Keihn jets.

A variety of small diameter and soft brass and copper wires can be scavenged from brass brushes or multi stranded electric wire. Usually just dislodging whatever clogs the orifice will suffice; after that just running fuel through cleans them out.

Thanks, I'll try the vinigar and water. And I won't use anything harder than brass.
I'd buy new jets bit it's my son's bike and money is tight, he has a budget to work to. And I can't see the value in new jets when some cleaning will be ok.
We bought new slides, needles, needle jets and rebuild kits as these are the only moving parts and they were very worn.

Thanks
graeme

If the slides were badly worn, the carb bodies are worn also. That may well give you fits...

Here is the link which has been helpful if it is an Amal concentric:

http://www.jba.bc.ca/Bushmans%20Carb%20Tuning.html

But we don't even know what kind of carb is being discussed so it may be not relevant anyway.

The idle mixture jet in the carb body is not meant to be removable in the later Amal concentrics. (Although it can be drilled out completely and an older type jet which screws in from the float bowl can be used but this is a little controversial.)

I'm not a terrible person that would use a drill bit under normal circumstances but poking it does not always work in this particular case. The tiny hole is way in there and it has to be done mainly by feel.

Sorry Gents, they are Dell'Orto PHF 36mm carbs from a 1981 500 Ducati Pantah, so the bodies haven't worn too badly. But parts are expensive.