I heard someone talking about the baking soda deal and they were saying that the soda will cause the wire to pit and the slides will not work as smoothly... I dunno, but that's what I heard from a supposedly experienced snare man... if I'm remembering correctly he said he boils them in plain water to remove oils and preservative and lays them out to age naturally...
I have no experience with these things just repeating what I heard from someone who sounded like he knew what he was talking about... :mrgreen: