The best bet is Murphy's Oil Soap. Mix with a little water and whip up a lather. It might dull the shellac and if it does paste wax will fix it. It will take off the oxidized oil, coal dust, wood ash, and general dirt. It requires patience. ANY product that is listed as either a polish or body scrub or cleaner is an ABRASIVE and will cut through the shellac like a knife. The chemical carriers in these products may also strip the shellac. The copper plate is very thin and that is what makes it fragile. Some of these oxidized fishes are coated with real violin varnish which is much tougher than plain shellac. The color of the final product was controlled by what was used to over coat it. On Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:10:37 -0400, Steven Medved wrote: >Hi Loran,Would a gently cleaner such as Maguires body scrub clean the crud off of the shellac? A lot of houses were heated with coal and or wood and this leaves things very dirty. Patina is good, dirt is irritating, but sometimes it is best to leave well enough alone.The oxidized finish is very delicate, when working with Edison oxidized reproducers I only remove dust with a soft tissue. I would think that the shellac could be removed and a new finish installed, but when dealing such an expensive item you would want an expert to do it.Steve> Other than gently wiping with a soft (microfiber) cloth to knock the > dust off, I'd leave well enough alone. I'm a believer that patina > shows the piece has lived a nice, long life.> > Loran> > On Jun 21, 2007, at 9:49 AM, Dan Kj wrote:> > > I knew someone who had the same finish on all the door hardware in > > his house> > .... he removed every piece & got them "all clean again" with some > > kind of> > industrial polishing compound. I couldn't tell if he was > > disappointed when I> > told him the pieces were SUPPOSED to have spots of different- > > colored metal.> > ack.> >> >> >> > ----- Original Message -----> > From: "David Dazer" <ddazer at sbcglobal.net>> > To: "Antique Phonograph List" <phono-l at oldcrank.org>> > Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2007 9:10 AM> > Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Victor P bracket> >> >> > I had good luck cleaning mine with 0000 steel wool and some > > waterless hand> > cleaner that mechanics use. Go easy with it or you might end up > > stripping the> > whole thing off. When you see some of the copper coming back, quit.> > Dave> >> > phonofolks at aol.com wrote:> >> > I have an oxidized Victor P front mount support brack that is very > > dark. How> > could I bring the support bracket back to life so it will show the > > oxidized> > finish? Do I remove the old laquer/shellac finish and then > > relacquer? If so what> > type of finish remover would you recommend? Thanks!> >> > _______________________________________________> > Phono-L mailing list> > http://phono- l.oldcrank.org> >> > _______________________________________________> Phono-L mailing list> http://phono-l.oldcrank.org_______________________________________________ >Phono-L mailing list >http://phono-l.oldcrank.org