I just have to jump in on this one now. Deb - while your cleaning advice and recommendations are fine for leather and tack that are relatively new and are in everday use, they are not appropriate at all for historic objects.

I have seen the long-term deleterious effects of old soap and oil residues - the organic oils polermerize and crosslink, permanently darkening and degrading the leather, and such treatments can be disasterous if applied to degraded leather with red rot areas.

There are also bad effects from commercial brass cleaners such as brasso. Brasso is an aggressive ammoniated cleaned with a high PH. Frequently polishing with brasso can lead to erosion of the original metal surface, the development of stress corrosion cracking from the ammonia, and copper corrosion from polish residues that are not cleared from the surface. Metal polish residues leach into the surrounding leather or organic materials and can permanently bleach the leather.

Even knowledgable and experienced conservators have to look closely at historic objects and often have to do some testing before ascertaining a safe cleaning methodology. And this also applies to removing things like linseed oil from architecural surfaces (another recent cleaning posting).

I hate to beat this drum but the best thing you can do is to call in a conservator for a consult. Have someone take a look and to give you their advice. This sort of consultation usually doesn't cost very much and it can prove to be of enormous benefit in understanding more about preserving your collections and sites.

One of the dangers of the web are people acting on the recipies that are often posted with all good intentions of being helpful. As an objects conservator of long experience I can testify that often having to deal with the preservation problems created by some of those "good intentions" can double and often quaduple the cost of conservation.

There are all sorts of resources out there to help small, medium, and large sized musuems and cultural institutions conduct conservation assessments, surveys, and treat collections. The IMLS, NEH, NEA, Getty, and Mellon grant programs in the USA cover a wide variety of granting opportunities just to name a few.

So, please at least make a phone call to a conservator and discuss your situation and problems before taking irreversible action.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Conservator
Chair of Objects Specialty Group - AIC

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