This question is for Dave Harvey in L.A.
 
Thank you for your help with the iron cleaning question.  I did end up using mineral spirits and it helped only a little bit.  When you worked with the cast iron stove top figure, did it look gray after you cleaned it and seem somehow, stickier?  Also, I think there is some sort of heavy coating that softens when I use the mineral spirits.  I can leave fingerprints in whatever it is.
 
I would like to try and identify whatever it is on the metal.  Does it sound like I should just stop and contact a metals conservator?  And this may be a dumb question, can I put renaissance wax over it  (trying to stop the stickiness) or will that make it worse?
 
Thanks
 
Meredith
 
Virginia Beach Historic Houses
3131 Virginia Beach Blvd.
Virginia Beach, VA 23452
Phone: 757-431-4000
Fax: 757-431-3733
Email: [log in to unmask]

________________________________

From: Museum discussion list on behalf of David Harvey
Sent: Tue 10/31/2006 5:36 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Cleaning Sticky Iron



Meridith,

Try a q-tip dipped in a small amount of mineral spirits and keep
working it in to one spot on the iron. If the stickiness disappears
then you probably have old oil on the surface. If someone used an
organic oil on them that chemically degraded and crosslinked then you
have a much more difficult problem on your hands. I had experince in
treating a severly crosslinked surface of a cast iron stove top figure
that had been "oiled" by a musuem maintenance staff every year and
this organic oil seemed to almost be harder than the underlying steel
- it really took many hours and using some really nasty solvent gels
to get it to swell and start to break up - so if you have that sort of
problem I recommend getting some expert advice.

Hopefully mineral spirits will do the trick. As always - use only the
smallest volume of solvent possible, with lots of ventilation, wearing
rubber or nitrile gloves, and no sources of ignitiion around. and
dispose of dirty solvents and solvent soaked rags responsibily.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Conservator
Los Angeles, California

On 10/31/06, Meredith L. Dunham <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> We have recently begun operating a new historic site that has a fairly comprehensive set of iron cooking utensils ranging in date from the 1800s to present day. Much of it (old and new) was used during cooking demonstrations.  I also believe that one of the volunteers coated many of the objects with some sort of protectant or oil.  Currently they are very sticky and attract all sorts of dirt and grass.  Does anyone know of any non-abrasive solvents that we can use to clean these objects?  Most are in good condition, just sticky. I don't plan on cleaning the rusting objects.  That I leave for a real conservator.
>
> I checked in the Museum-L archives and the NPS Handbook for info but there wasn't anything that cold help me.  One source said that I could use mineral spirits or acetone for degreasing.  Would this be a good option?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Meredith Dunham
> Curatorial Assistant
>
> Virginia Beach Historic Houses
> 3131 Virginia Beach Blvd.
> Virginia Beach, VA 23452
> Phone: 757-431-4000
> Fax: 757-431-3733
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
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