Thread: Scrubbing Bubbles Harm Ivory?

I have a razor with some ivory scales that I don't want to remove cause for some reason I know I am going to break them trying and I want to clean in between the scales, but it's hard to get in there and soap and water aren't cutting it. I know it will take the finish off bakelite and other plastics, but can usually polish that back. Not sure if it would do more harm than good on ivory. Any info would be most welcome.

I don't have an exact answer for you, because I'm not sure what the chemical make up of Scrubbing Bubbles is.

I would not. I have ivory scales & ivory grips; I would never use a chemical cleanser on them.

I would use a I mild dish soap, clear, a tooth brush with Colgate, white. Use a soft baby toothbrush with Colgate, or flatten a Q-tip with pliers, then use it with toothpaste.

I have heard of people using denture cleaners, but I have not tried it.

Can't help you but there are some answers here Museum Conservation Institute The Care and Handling of Ivory Objects .

Bob

Use dawn dish soap,dry and rub down with mineral oil

That'll work .

Thanks alot.

Wow I flattened a q-tip and that worked wonders. I was using soft pipe cleaners and they weren't stiff enough to do any real good. I can't believe I didn't think of flattening a q-tip before. Thanks again.

Wrap a wooden coffee stir stick or sticks (depending on thickness needed) with a paper towel, I like the blue paper shop towels and apply your cleaning product. The blue paper towels are a bit abrasive and clean/scrub well.

Try a dab of tooth paste and rinse.

The blue towels are great for polishing blades with metal polish.

I have been using the blue towels for awhile now and they worked great, but I recently noticed while polishing some black horn and bakelite that they were actually leaving very faint scratches. It was driving me crazy cause I couldn't get rid of them no matter what I did. That is when I noticed that the towels were actually causing them. I had to start using a different towel. I got a different shop towel as well as some Viva paper towels cause they were softer. The scratches could have been cause by some dust on the towels since it is pretty dusty in my house, but I got different ones to try anyway.

Never tried this but why wouldn't floss work? I would think if it's waxed floss it would pick up the dirt and pull it out?