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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Barbara W. Preston, post: 4300488, member: 13943&quot;]When a new piece arrives, I check if for loose areas at joints and hinges.&nbsp; Knowing what might need repair, I use a barely damp piece of T-shirt type material to wipe over all of the surfaces to remove the loose dust and any food type materials that might be on the piece.&nbsp; Often there is sticky from spilled drinks or milk and the cloth immediately shows those areas so that you can continue to wipe them until they are removed. Then, I take a liquefied beeswax on the same type of cloth and start rubbing small sections of the piece at a time until the cloth no longer is picking up dirt.&nbsp; You can tell this by folding the cloth over and over again until there is little or no dirt being transferred onto the the cloth. Then with a clean soft cloth of the same material, I rub the area just cleaned to polish the beeswax to a soft shine and move on to another area.&nbsp; It takes a long time to do this, but it is worth it.&nbsp; After all repairs are made, I use the T-shirt material to make a hand size pad that I cover with slip into the foot of an old nylon and use this pad to apply another thin coat of beeswax to a large section, but no more than a 4&#039; by 4&#039; area, and let that dry.&nbsp; Then with another and size pad of the material I cover with&nbsp; pieces of silk from old ties or blouses or dresses that I find at the thrift shops to cover the pad, I polish those sections until the beauty of the wood with all of its history shines in all it beauty.&nbsp; We have tours and events at the museum and often have to clean some of our pieces afterwards from hand prints, cup and dish circles, and spilled or dropped foods items.&nbsp; This is when we us the spray, not on the piece itself, but on a T-shirt cloth to remove the problems that were left.&nbsp; Sometimes we see &quot;bloom&quot; (whitish areas) start to appear on furniture arms and our mahogany stair rail and we clean those areas with spray on the cloth, too. It takes work, but the effort is worth it. We do not allow he use of any terrycloth toweling or cloths or the new micro-cloths to be used any where in the museum because they can snag loose pieces of wood and wood veneer, ceramics and porcelains, and gilded gesso on mirrors or furniture and cause serious damage. I hope this helps.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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