TheDeardorffGuy
17-Jul-2011, 18:37
Todays Hint is: Cleaning
I've seen my share of dirty cameras. This post is aimed at a camera that has all its lacquer on it. No bare wood and NO SPLIT BED. First take the ground glass out of the back. Open the camera. If your camera still has its leather bellows cover them. Now lightly spray the camera with windex. Yes Windex. Wipe down and let it dry. If needed do it again. Now The metal can be polished but a WARNING here: Deardorff in the 50s through the 80s used an electroplater that put various thicknesses of nickle on the metal. They also sent several years worth of plating in at once. This means you might have a 1963 camera with parts plated in 1955! What does "various thickness" mean? Simply, the nickle plating will rub off down to the base metal. If you are to polish the metal do NOT use metal polish. Use a purple Scotch Brite pad. Gently. If the brass starts to show through stop. This is one of the reasons I replate all the non wear parts on cameras I refinish. I simply could not get a nice polish on the metal.
Ok, now you have a camera that has been washed and dried and very dull looking.
What to do? Lemon Pledge and a nice soft cloth like a well used dish rag. Spray the whole camera even the leather bellows and wipe down to a nice shine. The reason you should not spray a camera with pledge that has bare wood is that since all wood can be refinished, Pledge will ruin the wood for future refinish. It contains silicone and soaks in the wood and is very hard to remove. Now you have a nice clean Deardorff!
I've seen my share of dirty cameras. This post is aimed at a camera that has all its lacquer on it. No bare wood and NO SPLIT BED. First take the ground glass out of the back. Open the camera. If your camera still has its leather bellows cover them. Now lightly spray the camera with windex. Yes Windex. Wipe down and let it dry. If needed do it again. Now The metal can be polished but a WARNING here: Deardorff in the 50s through the 80s used an electroplater that put various thicknesses of nickle on the metal. They also sent several years worth of plating in at once. This means you might have a 1963 camera with parts plated in 1955! What does "various thickness" mean? Simply, the nickle plating will rub off down to the base metal. If you are to polish the metal do NOT use metal polish. Use a purple Scotch Brite pad. Gently. If the brass starts to show through stop. This is one of the reasons I replate all the non wear parts on cameras I refinish. I simply could not get a nice polish on the metal.
Ok, now you have a camera that has been washed and dried and very dull looking.
What to do? Lemon Pledge and a nice soft cloth like a well used dish rag. Spray the whole camera even the leather bellows and wipe down to a nice shine. The reason you should not spray a camera with pledge that has bare wood is that since all wood can be refinished, Pledge will ruin the wood for future refinish. It contains silicone and soaks in the wood and is very hard to remove. Now you have a nice clean Deardorff!