cleaning glass plate negativs?

[hendrik faure]

thank you all for valuable hints.
As a result I see, that no cleaning will be the best, waterbased cleaning may be risky and highly volatile substances were sometimes used.
I have some plates of low picture quality for testing and will try 95% ethylol first, thereafter maybe acetone, which is easy available.
The plates were not retouched (I know their complete history), most are boxed and Quality is good (the photographer worked in Zeiss Göttingen factory).
Cleaning will be necessary for a smaller part of them
best regards
Hendrik

[Robert Brazile]

I have used the Edwin film cleaner on some antique plates that were filthy. It mostly worked, which is to say that it removed some of the dirt/grease/whatever it was. In a couple cases (out of 30-40) there were what looked like wiping marks afterward, but I didn't scan them first, so I don't know whether they were already there or not. In the rest of the cases there was no damage that appeared to be newly created. I try to do it only when it would make a big difference.

Robert