Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[admin]

Hi

The Prefect has the olde brown bakelite dash and window surrounds, they need a clean up, and wondered if there was any 'old wives' tales or tips to bring a nice shine up on the bakelite finish. Am sure any polish would do a reasonable job, but I bet there were home-brewed ideas around in the 50s to achieve the same effect....??? vinegar? seems to be mentioned in most 1950s tips books for household cleaning and so on, not that I do much of that

Rick

[Uncle Joe]

Rick, you have to be careful polishing Bakelite. The gloss is very thin, and easily damaged. Things like ammonia, alchohol, and alkalis destroy them.

I´ve only ever polished bakelite once or twice, but the way I do it is flat it off with either pumice stone or rotten stone depending on how bad the suface is, and the polish with pure carnuba wax or pure beeswax. And I think that we all know who can supply pure beeswax!

[admin]

riiiiight, I'll give it a gentle clean then and see if theres a decent finish hiding below the grime

ta, Rick

[Uncle Joe]

I know that there is no real need to say this, but as usual, be careful, and start with an area that is out of sight!

[admin]

worth making the point again though! initially I'll just give it a gentle wipe with a dampened rag (just water) and see how the surface looks, then try a wax on it

R

[admin]

Just in case anyone else finds themselves in the position of cleaning up old bakelite, here are some possibly useful links

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/freshwater/restore1.htm#cleaning
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/freshwater/bakelit1.htm
http://www.mbzponton.org/valueadded/maintenance/bakelite2.htm

Most relate to bakelite as found on old radios and telephones, but the material is pretty much the same.

Rick.

[buzzy bee]

I will get you a chunk of refined beeswax no problem, but it is very hard, not sure how you will use it?

Cheers

Dave

[Uncle Joe]

I hadn´t thought about the hardness of pure beeswax, I´ve only ever seen it in tins! Maybe a good idea is to buy some commercially, and see if they have mixed anything in with it?

As far as the old wives tale of cleaning bakelite with vinegar goes, I would assume that as bakelite is destroyed by alkali, it is pretty resistent to acid. I´ll try and check somewhere if I can. I could imagine though that white wine vinegar would be better than malt, as it is colourless. Or?

[buzzy bee]

I make pure beeswax polish for furniture, That has beeswax, turpentine and ensential oils in, that is basically what you buy but they put a few other things in somethimes!

[FIFTIES CRUISER]

Hi, As Uncle Joe mentioned, the gloss on bakelite is thin. I found the best thing to do with tired bakelite is to clean it with nothing abrasive, make sure it's dry , then apply some shoe polish of the same colour. It's probably best to try a small area first. Also there used to be a product called "Bake o Brite". I'm not sure if this is still available. It was about ten years ago. I believe Chas Miller, editor of the Radiophile magazine used to sell it. I have no contact details, try the BVWS. ( British Vintage Wireless Society ). It used to be used by the GPO for polishing their telephones. Hope this is of some help. Des.

[The_ Yellow_Ardvark]

I used to use a mixture of Beeswax and white Spirit.

Get a block of pure beeswax and break off small junks and add to a tin, pour in some white spirit and the wax will melt, keep adding the whiter spirit until you have a mixture not unlike whipped cream.

How much of each you need is a “suck it and see” mixture.

Apply to a soft polishing cloth and try on a part not seen, if it works do the lot.

Some dashes with coated with clear lacquer to add a shine, this will always fade. Removing into will always destroy the original finish on the Bakelite, al you can do then is re coat with a coat of thin electrical varnish and re polish.
_________________
Wibble I am an orange.

[Greg]

To clean the Bakelite window surrounds on my Pop, I found that Autoglyms' 'Bumper Care' is good, it's like a green gel. I just gently work it in then buff off.
I have seen 'Bakelite Cleaner' for sale somewhere but can't remember where .maybe E-Bay?

[ukdave2002]

Rick

Coincidently I have been pondering this, as the Bakelite on the Morris is very dull. Last week end I was having a clearout and was about to chuck some broken Bakelite window surrounds, then though I could would keep them specifically to try out some methods of cleaning / polishing or even what effect lacquering would have. Have got plenty if you want some scrap to experiment with.

Dave

[Rick]

Some interesting pointers on this thread, ironically since I started the thread in 2006 I no longer own a car with bakelite trim, but I don't rule it out one day!!

Rick
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