HOW-TO Clean Collectables, Part 4: Organic Materials, (plastic, fabric and wood, etc.) - By: Bill Harvey

FINE PRINT:
If it's valuable you MUST know what you are doing. If you don't know what you are doing, follow my advice on PRESERVATION as best you can and leave well enough alone. Or HIRE A PRO to clean it. Most things will not be hurt by carefully storing them dirty. Store it carefully till you can afford to hire a pro -and if this takes 20 or 40 years, so be it. It will just be all that much more valuable by then. (Except fabric. Probably best to clean fabric before you tuck it away.)

Vintage Plastic
Celluloid: Interesting stuff celluloid, but not at all nice. It was invented in 1856 and was the first plastic to hit the market, largely as a replacement for ivory. Pretty much went out of favor by the 1950's. Only place you find it now-a-days is ping-pong balls. What is interesting is that it starts out life as cotton waste which is processed to become either celluloid, cellulosic lacquer, or gun cotton. Gun cotton is what they use to shoot big shells out of cannons on battleships. Yep, gun cotton is explosive as is celluloid! (And -for that matter-lacquer burns like a som'na-bitch too.) Additionally, if it gets wet -and stays wet- it oozes nitric acid. Nitric acid is not only corrosive as all hell, it is a powerful oxidizer as well.

There are stories (?) of celluloid queue-balls exploding and killing people. Men's collars used to be made of celluloid. But the most important celluloid for collectors is dolls.

So here is what the pros have to say about celluloid. It will break down. Can't be helped -it can only be slowed down. As it breaks down, it out-gasses camphor -the stuff that makes Campho Phenique smell like it does. Store celluloid dolls in (swear-to-goodness) explosion proof cabinets or the freezer. Clean it with distilled water, but understand the even water hastens the break-down into corrosive nitric acid.

Rubber:
Distilled water
Sponge
Protect rubber stuff from light damage but you must understand that it's also going to degrade no matter what you do with / about it.

Leather:
Distilled water, Triton 100, non-conditioning liquid dish detergent.
Cotton swabs etc.
Oily treatments to keep leather supple and waterproof do little to preserve collectables. But they do attract dust and insects.
* Clean leather tabletops with 50 / 50 lemon juice and water.
* Mildew on leather: Wipe it with 50 / 50 solution of rubbing alcohol. Then hit it with neats-foot oil.

Paper: - old comic-books -documents -the Declaration of Independence etc.
DON'T DO IT!
NO solvents
Do NOT get it wet.
Just DON'T do it!
DON'T get it wet
Try a little CAREFUL work with a CLEAN MagicRub or Mars Staedtler eraser. (Iz'it true the British call erasers 'rubbers'?)

If it isn't a glossy photograph and/or a eraser isn't getting the job done, you had better know pre'zactly what you are doing when you try to clean and preserve something made out of paper. If it is valuable, this is where you want to consult with an expert.

The folks at Gaylord Brothers take this business pretty seriously. Check them out on-line, They also offer excellent on-line (free!) Preservation Resources for all things paper.

If you get heavy handed with the eraser and tear a page do NOT slap Scotch-tape over the tear. It will eventually turn to slime. Repair it from the back if you must, and use something from Gaylord Brothers to do it right.

Photographs:
Distilled water
Cotton swabs
Understand that photographic prints were (and still are) developed in chemicals dissolved in water, to a little distilled water might be all it takes to get the coffee stains off without damaging the picture. But -as always- start slowly -in an uninteresting corner for instance.

* Photo-albums that smell like a new shower curtain are made out of cheap plastic. Only buy the ones that don't smell.

* Label photos by writing or typing on a stick-on label BEFORE you stick it on, and NEVER write on the back of a photo. Or -if you must- use a soft lead pencil and write as lightly as possible.

* Smelly Stuff / Books: Actually, I kind'a like the smell of old books, but Earl sez to put some cat litter in a plastic bag, fan the books open and stand them up in the bag and close it up for a few days. If this don't get it done, replace the cat-litter and do it again. I include this tip because it would probably work for many smelly collectables.

* Comic-books are made out of cheap paper and need to be stored / protected in archival Mylar bags -NOT food storage bags.


FABRIC:
I have to be honest here -cleaning fabric is beyond me. This is a topic that is too simple and too complicated at the same time. Read my articles on PRESERVATION and let common sense be your guide. F'rinstance...
1. If it's your kid's soccer jersey, toss in the washing machine with whatever laundry soap you have been using to clean it all season. Then mount if carefully in one of my UV proof Jersey Cases.
2. If it's Elvis' actual underpants, use Woolite. Or not, but I don't want to hear about it.
3. If it's your wedding dress tuck it away in archival safe materials. If you smeared wedding-cake-frosting down the front and then got it all sweated-up, have it dry cleaned and THEN tuck it away in archival safe materials.
4. If it's great-great-gram'ma's wedding dress, remember that buttons might have been made from celluloid many years ago and need to be dealt with as if they were volatile, -because they ARE volatile. HIRE A PRO.
5. If it's Jacky Kennedy's wedding dress, HIRE A PRO.
6. If it's the actual flag that flew over Fort OutBack the day the armistice was signed, HIRE A PRO.

*Mildew: Get rid of it by moistening the stain in lemon juice and salt, let it dry in the sun, (mildew hates the sun). If this doesn't work, try hydrogen peroxide more sun, but expect some fading.

WOOD -finished:
Paint thinner or turpentine.
000 or 0000 Steel wool
Turn your steel wool pad often and throw it out well before you think it is done. A clogged steel wool pad can scratch a nice finish. After you have your item clean, use a brand-new steel wool pad to put on a thin layer of wax. Buff it out with an old cotton sock -probably a clean one would be best.

* Wax / Polish Build-up: If you have been overdoing the wax over the years, take it down with turpentine and a clean rag. Shift the rag periodically and replace it when it gets dirty.


WOOD -unfinished:
Paint thinner, turpentine, or shellac thinner (denatured alcohol).
Cotton wipes.
The problem with cleaning wood is that it is porous and the dirt can hide-out in the pores. Of course it would depend on what the collectable is, but you might consider actually getting some extra find sandpaper and cleaning it up by actually sanding it down VERY LIGHTLY. Wear white gloves while you do so and store it carefully so it doesn't get dirty again.

You might also consider using a plastic kitchen scouring pad and nothing else -except elbow-grease. You will be sanding your collectable -sort-of, but only sanding the schmutz and not the wood. Clean, turn,. or replace your pad often or you will not so much be taking the schmutz off as you will be smearing it around all even-like and working it into the pores. Do NOT use steel wool on raw wood unless you want to give the wood a battleship grey (steel) patina.


*Scratches in wood: (from easiest to trickiest)

1. Brown felt-tipped marker and -when dry- furniture polish.
2. Shoe polish -brown, black, or Cordova -whichever most closely matches the wood's color.
3. A wax crayon that matches the wood. Buff it out with your thumb.
4. Artists oil paint -that also matches the wood- rub it in and let it dry THOROUGHLY. Polish it with wax paper.
5. (For painted-colored wood.) Fill the scratch with artist's water-color -from the tube. Use it as both pigment and filler. When it's dry, give it a careful coat of varnish or poly-something.

* Instant coffee makes an acceptable wood stain, and who doesn't have some in the kitchen? Make a paste and rub it in.

* Have to give credit where it's due. These items are from Earl's Proulx's excellent book Yankee Magazine's MAKE IT LAST -1000 Ingenious Ways to Extend the Life of Everything You Own. They are used without permission, so keep me out of trouble by going out and buying your own copy. I promise it will pay you back much more then its cost by making something last that you would otherwise have thrown away.

In parts 1 and 2, I talked about the assorted things you might find under your kitchen sink -soaps and solvents and such as well as the rubby-scratchy things like steel wool. In part 3 I took up just what the right solvent and / or abrasive might be for painted and metallic things. Now in part 4 I addresses organic items like plastic, fabric and wood, etc.

Bill Harvey is an expert wood-worker making drawer and display cases for collectors and museums. He is also author of COLLECTOR's HOW-TO - a series of articles for the dedicated collector or hobbyist to use in protecting and displaying valuable items. All this can be found at
Home-Museum.com