[Boatanchors] Re: [Hallicrafters] Cleaning Old Equipment?

[WA1KBQ at aol.com]

Non-destructive cleaning is an acquired skill  gained through knowledge and 
experience working with different chemicals on  different kinds of surfaces 
with different degrees of decay. It is easy for me  to say this now but it took 
years of practice and learning how to get it right  without killing everything. 
It is essential to have a knowledge of materials and  surface finishes and 
how they were applied and a knowledge of various methods,  chemical reactions 
and treatments and what is available today. This experience  will also help 
guide you through deciding what to purchase and what not to  depending on your 
level of skill. Anything can be restored but at what amount of  effort and cost? 
Every radio you see out there which has been restored is a  result of that 
persons degree of skill and their opinion of what good  restoration is. Restoring 
vintage radio equipment is not like the antique car  hobby which has 
governing bodies who publish specifications and guidelines and  judges for members 
what is original, what is not and what is considered to be  faithful to the 
original type restoration. A radio is only original once and  after that we are 
pretty much on our own to do with it whatever we think is the  right thing to do. 
If someone else likes your work we have at least one more who  agrees with 
your methods.

Regards, Greg  




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