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Cleaning and polishing


jager 152

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Now how do you feel about a nice, shiny collection ? Way back when the was a bit of a phase when everyone discovered Goddards Silver Dip. Crimea medals got the dip treatment, and they came out gleaming.

Brasso seemed a great idea, as did, horror of horrors, the buffing wheel.

Things do seem to have moderated, what many call a tarnish is more correctly descibed as a patina, acquired over the years and part of the items history .

There is the argument that much spit and polish was used in service use, so should we emulate that in the items in our display cabinets ?

Remember even Brasso is an abrasive and each treatment removes a tiny laver of metal, and softens detail.

I tend to polish with a soft cloth every now and then, then maybe a little wax as a preservative.

And for Gawd's sake leave the laquer and varnish alone !

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I take a museum curator type view... if the tarnish, dirt, rust, whatever is a threat to the long term preservation of the item then it is carefully removed (usually like surgery with a q-tip and tooth pick). Patina which naturally occurs with age on metal is left. Pitting is also left though I use a non damaging gun barrel grease to neutralize further deterioration of metal.

 

For leather I use no treatments at all. I attempt to keep them dry and stable, and out of strong light. As they begin to break down I remove leather frogs from metal scabbards on bayonets as they retain moisture and will damage the scabbard. The Bayonet Collectors Network had large discussion about leather recently and decided leather is a dead animal and does decay so let it. We have a guy in Virgina who makes historically accurate replacements for anything we need.

 

Fabrics and cloth are handled similar to leather, but not something I collect.

 

I general I treat anything old that is highly polished and buffed as damaged goods unless handling something extremely rare and well cared for (Regimental Museum stuff for example)

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Leather can be a bit of a problem, (Not for me guvnor), and some so-called leather 'Foods', if used in excess can cause a flaccid effect that none of us like to mention, your scabbard just gets droopy .

I have sung the praises of Renaissance wax, used by many museums. I sometimes use a little on 'Dry' leather, or as a light polish, good for protecting metal too.

Beware penetrating oil, great for loosening up a gun lock etc., but it does what it says on the tin, and if left on bare metal it will eventually attack the surface.

If you have really tarnished brass etc. a metal polish is fine for a one-off clean up, but try to remove the residue with warm slightly soapy water, old bits of white Brasso in your cavities looks awful, (Matron !). Once again a last wipe with wax puts a nice finish on the metal. Oil and greases protect OK, but are like magnets to dust.

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  • 6 years later...

Resurecting a rather old conversation here, but opinion question with medals...

 

You can get a variety of cleaners for medals such as Brasso and even home made solutions (ketchup can work wonders on non-varnished brass)

 

I'm looking at getting a rather old German medal (brass) that is well priced but has some surface tarnish on it... what do people think restoration wise... is it better to get untarnished medals in perfect minty condition, get them tarnished and spend the few minutes cleaning off anything unwanted, or doesn't matter leave them as be and don't clean them but then try to get one that is not tarnished to begin with.

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