Cleaning ground glass (mat side)

[lungovw]

Hello,

I bought a wet plate camera from around 1860 (precious) and the GG is plenty of lines drawn with a pencil. I want to clean it up but I remember using a normal rubber eraser in a GG and it left some marks. Any experiences on that?

Thanks,

Wagner Lungov

[Glenn Thoreson]

Yes, an eraser will leave visible marks. I run the glass under warm water and gently rub it all over with a finger. Then, I put a couple of drops of dish soap on the wet glass. Rub it all over with your finger until it looks like the lines are gone. Rinse really well and stand it so the water drains off a corner, until dry.

[Dave Parker]

I use Dawn dishwashing liquid and hot water with a scotch bright pad to clean the screens I make.. and then I dry with a clean dry terry cloth towel. Any grease cutting liquid soap will work. The rubber eraser has left oils behind that get in the pores of the glass.

Dave Parker
Satin Snow Ground Glass

[David Karp]

Warm soapy water. Don't rub the "ground" side of the ground glass too hard, or you will "smooth" the glass and lose the image in that spot.

[David Karp]

Wow,

Glenn and Dave are fast.

[Dave Parker]

I use scotch bright on every single screen I produce and would have to rub for months before you would smooth the glass, glass is pretty high on the hardness scale and scrubbing pads are actually very soft, it is pretty hard to scratch glass, now, on another note, DO do this if you have a fresnel screen, because it will scratch it, and don't do it on any of the enhanced screens as most of them have a plastic component to them. What your trying to do it open the pores of the glass back up, screens over time, with absorb contaminants that get embedded in the pores of the glass..

Dave

[Bill_1856]

Dave, being a helpless bachelor I had no idea what a "Scotch Bright Pad" is. Looking it up on the web (ain't computers wonderful about 50% of the time), it seems there are about a dozen different variations of the product. My best guess is that you are referring to the "scouring pad," but there are at least two versions of it.
Exactly which "Scotch Bright Pad" are you referring to? Thanks.

[Dave Parker]

Hi Bill,

I use the normal scotch bright pads, in fact most of the time I use the dollar store or the store brand, as they are less expensive...they are a green pad that will feel prickly to the touch and designed to take off dried food from plates with out harming the finish on them..don't use the ones that have two pieces melded together..

The link shows the ones I use, I always buy the green ones, but the blue ones would work just fine.

http://www.3m.com/us/home_leisure/sc..._scouring.html

Dave

[Glenn Thoreson]

Wow,

Glenn and Dave are fast.

We can't help it. It's just our nature........

[Enrico Faini]

Yes, an eraser will leave visible marks. I run the glass under warm water and gently rub it all over with a finger. Then, I put a couple of drops of dish soap on the wet glass. Rub it all over with your finger until it looks like the lines are gone. Rinse really well and stand it so the water drains off a corner, until dry.

and a final rinse in a tray with a couple of drops of photoflo or another wetting agent helps prevent water spots or other drying marks