Cleaning Brown Wax Cylinders?

[Shane]

I've had good luck using just a damp rag to clean Gold Moulded cylinders and Blue Amberols... but what is the best thing to clean a brown wax cylinder? I'm afraid that the temperature change from the water on the rag might shatter it. Any suggestions?

[gramophoneshane]

I think for brown wax, I'd be going the labtone route. I'd also let the cylinder & water sit in the same area for a couple hours so both reach pretty much the same temperate to reduce the risk of breakage due to temp change.

[Shane]

Thanks Shane. I set some water out for a few hours, and then used it to dampen a rag. Seemed to work just fine for some general cleaning. I'm just glad I don't have a cylinder in two pieces!

[WDC]

My preferred cleaning method is isopropyl alcohol (70%). By using a soft cloth (a wet paper tissue, soaked with IPA) you can clean the whole recorded area easily. I do this with the cylinder on the mandrel and let it turn by the machine. First I clean both ends, then I make the whole surface wet (with IPA). White lettering on title ends of black wax cylinders will not be affected. Making the surface wet should be only done at warm room temperature because of the evaporative loss of heat that will cool down the record. This way, most of the dirt is taken from the record and you will see the black/brown dust particles on the tissue.

When the alcohol has evaporated, the record surface usually gets dull, this is not cricital at all. Now, I take a soft demakeup pad or a cotton ball to gently polish the surface and ends. The record will now become very shiny. In case a cylinder is very dirty, I will have to repeat the wet and dry part 2-3 times until the cloth stays (almost) clean. The result is marvellous and even the sound quality is improved by approx. 15% lower surface (hiss) noise.

To be honest, there were some reservations about this method. A collector friend once wrote me that I read years ago that alcohol-based cleaners would be a potential risk long-term to wax records because they could emulsify some oil compounds and accelerate the disipation of oils from the wax. Another collector friend who has a profession in advanced restoration processes did not see any of these potential problems in general.

I have been using this method now for about three years on brown and black wax cylinders of different manufacture. None of them has ever showed any kind of degration in look and sound. And there are no strange chemicals remaining on the record's surface which could react over years.