This perpetual calendar, made of urea sits nicely on my bureau at home ...
Many people
have asked me how I clean my Bakelite items, well here goes:
In my opinion liquid metal polish can certainly be one of the best cleaners of Bakelite around.
Found in most Supermarkets and General stores and not expensive either. Many brands exist, Brasso possibly being one of the
most famous, but equally most of the supermarket's own brands are just as good and all follow a very similar formula.
These polishes tend to come in a brown or pinkish colour and all have a very mild abrasive built
into their makeup, very handy when removing years of grime, grease and nicotine staining !!!
INSTRUCTIONS:
Place a small amount on a clean cloth/duster and proceed to rub in a circular motion all over the
item to be renovated. Naturally any metal featured in the make up of the item will benefit as well. Be quite firm in your
polishing, Bakelite is quite a durable material.
Leave the polish to " cloud over " on the surface of the Bakelite for a few minutes, then proceed
to buff up with a clean cloth to hopefully a nice sparkling finish. You may have to repeat this procedure a few times
to remove layers of grime etc. Remember a lot of these items are over 60 years old and have accumulated years of unwanted
residues.
Many many times I have been delighted to restore a dullish looking Bakelite item to it's original
and sometimes nicely mottled surface, which has been hidden for years, waiting to be released.
When buffing up, do not be alarmed if a brownish, yellow residue appears on your cloth, this is
perfectly normal, caused by the polish reacting with the phenol within Bakelite. No damage occurs.
After you have achieved an acceptable finish, you may want to give the item a once over with a wax
free aerosol polish like Mr Sheen, preferably of the Anti - Static variety.
FINALLY ..... Please bear in mind though, if a Bakelite item has been subject
for long periods to direct sunlight, the surface of the Bakelite may have started to break up, often appearing very dull and
matt in appearance. Try polishing this by all means, but sometimes no matter how much polish you apply, Initially the shine
appears but the matt appearance does return ..... Please feel free to Contact me via my Contact page if I can be of
any further help.
cheers JOOLZ
