Cleaning Opinions

[1st AAA Group]

I picked up a WWII garrison cover with a DUI on it that has a good amount of green age patina. Would you leave, or clean the patina off the DUI? I ask as I have a WWI British Victory medal that layed out for years on a shelf and had a patina on it that eventually corroded the metal! Any replies most appreciated. Thanks.

[Bob Hudson]

I picked up a WWII garrison cover with a DUI on it that has a good amount of green age patina. Would you leave, or clean the patina off the DUI? I ask as I have a WWI British Victory medal that layed out for years on a shelf and had a patina on it that eventually corroded the metal! Any replies most appreciated. Thanks.

 

I always remove the green corrosion where it is built up. Google brass corrosion and check out some articles such as this: http://www.thehenryford.org/explore/artifacts/brass.asp - they have tips on how to remove harmful corrosion without removing the patina ("safe corrosion").

[SARGE]

Good question!

 

While there are two opposing views on cleaning (with most collectors somewhere in the middle) most folks seem to want their items to be presentable and do not leave them "as found." I always try to clean the least I can to preserve some age patina if there is any. Failure to clean and stabilize items results in moths eating your uniforms and verdigris and rust eating your metal. My rule of thumb is that I would do what the soldier who owned the item originally would have done.

 

If a uniform is grimy and has buttons hanging off of it, I will send it to the cleaners after sewing the loose buttons down securely. The soldier would not have left it in unpresentable condition and his Sergeant most surely would not have let him if he were so inclined. Corrosion on metal will destroy it so I try to stabliize metal. I will clean active rust (red rust as opposed to black rust) and seal the damaged metal with polish such as semichrome or microchrystaline wax such as clear kiwi shoe wax. The cleaned metal will tend to patina down from bright after 6 months or a year. I try to use museum conservation and restoration methods when I can but bear in mind to use conservation methods first such as cleaning before using restoration methods such as replacing a missing button. There is a difference.

 

Just my two-cents worth to a question with many possible answers.

[1st AAA Group]

Thanks Forum Support and Sarge for the quick replies. Good info! I'll definitly clean the DUI.

[jgawne]

If the item will be cotinuously damaged by not cleaning- clean it.

If it is reasonable stable- don't.

 

However- most people do not realize that dirt on fabric does slowly abraid away at the thread on a very small scale. What is a good idea is to vacuum the fabric to pull out any loose dirt or moth eggs etc. If you just use a vaccum cleaner it will pull on the unform which is bad. So you get a screen to place over the cloth- the screen keeps the cloth from being pulled at, and the dirt is wisked away.

 

Also, moths will fiorst go for fabric that is stained or dirty. They will for food/drink stains, or sweat stains if they can. Maybe it tastes better...

[LTGSANCHEZ]

The green stuff is no good. Dirt will degrade fabric so slowly that it'll be decades and decades before it's noticeable. But its good to have nice clean stuff in your collection and it will help preserve it for years to come with people are paying $1000 for a canteen. About moths... Well moths want to destroy my collection more than my wife.

 

[gap]

Resurrecting a long dead post! I recently got too agressive polishing a stamped brass EM collar disc and ended up with a bright yellow shine. I prefer the dull gold tone of unpolished collar brass. How long will it take for the disc to lose its bright luster?