Rexine Maintenance?

[Lah Ca]

I have been reading about the cleaning, refurbishment and care of rexine on line in various forums dedicated to various antique products sometimes covered with the material.

I offer my general gleanings and ask for informed opinions.

Cleaning Rexine

There are as many opinions about this as there are opinions about spring lubrication and needles. Part of the problem is determining what the rexine on a particular machine is. Seemingly it can range from a flimsy paper backed product to a sturdy heavy cloth backed product. And what the recipe for the finish on rexine was seems to have changed over time. Rexine texturing also seems to add wrinkles (pun intended) into the debate.

Generally agreed upon advice seems to be testing whatever you are going be using to clean the material first in a small hidden area.

Most people seem to agree that vinegar and water is safe to use with a damp rather than a wet cloth.

Many, but fewer, people seem to agree that baking soda and water is OK with a damp cloth.

Many, but fewer, people seem to agree that mild dish soap and water is OK with a damp cloth provided that this is followed by a damp cloth with only water.

Some people state that a very soft bristled tooth brush can be used gently on textured rexine with any of the above cleaning solutions. Others disagree violently saying that such use risks de-texturing the rexine.

Refurbishing and Maintaining Rexine

General advice seems to be minor touch-up with closely colour matched felt pens for scuffs and abrasions.

Shoe cream/polish used in moderation also seems to be popular. European-made shoe cream seems to come in a wide variety of colours and shades. The Spanish company, TRG, has a huge number of offerings for example:

https://www.trg-theone.com/wp-content/u ... 2015MR.pdf

Thoughts, ideas, opinions?

[gramophoneshane]

Personally, I'd avoid vinegar. It's an acid, and even in very diluted form, it's still an acid which i can't see being harmless if left sitting on the surface of Rexine.

I've always found the best thing to use is good old soap and water.
It will generally dissolve dirt, grease, wax and pretty much anything else that you'd expect it was exposed to under normal use and circumstances.
I've never used a tooth brush but i do use a soft bristle fingernail brush, purely because it covers a bigger area and I'd imagine applies a more even pressure when i use it.
I normally use it in circular motion so it gets into the grain from various directions.

I've never found cleaning Rexine puts the grained texture at risk of disappearing or smoothing over.
I think to do that it would require heat, or to be put under substantial pressure before the grained texture was damaged.
I don't think I'd class a paper backed product as Rexine either.
As far as I'm concerned Rexine needs to have a fabric base of some kind, otherwise it's simply a grained or treated paper.

Whatever you choose to clean your Rexine, i think the most important things to do is keep the moisture level and time it's exposed to a minimum, otherwise you risk weakening the adhesive that the Rexine was applied with. Do it on a warm day so it dries thoroughly as quickly as possible, and give it a wipe down with a damp cloth a couple times to rinse the surface of any remaining cleaner.
Once thoroughly dry, i don't think you can beat applying a good quality shoe wax to even out the colour and restore water resistance back to the Rexine.

[epigramophone]

After sticking down any loose areas of Rexine I use a car upholstery cleaner applied neat with a damp sponge, then wiped off with a damp cloth. When no more dirt is removed by the cloth I dry the case with an old tea towel.
Some serious scuffs and abrasions leave the cotton backing material visible. To disguise these I first seal the surface with neat PVA adhesive and then touch in with a satin finish enamel paint such as Humbrol, which is available in a wide variety of colours. This achieves a more permanent repair than an ink marker.
Black shoe polish is fine for black Rexine, but for other colours test a small inconspicuous area first.

[Lah Ca]

Thank you for the replies.

Most helpful!

[Lah Ca]

Some serious scuffs and abrasions leave the cotton backing material visible. To disguise these I first seal the surface with neat PVA adhesive and then touch in with a satin finish enamel paint such as Humbrol, which is available in a wide variety of colours. This achieves a more permanent repair than an ink marker.

With regrads to the Humbrol, do you have any preference for enamel or acrylic?

[epigramophone]

I have always used the oil based paint, but an acrylic range has recently been introduced in response to plans in some countries to ban the oil based product. My advice would be to stock up on the oil based paint if you still can.

https://uk.humbrol.com/catalogue/paints ... _Sxe2g4vwB

[Lah Ca]

I have always used the oil based paint, but an acrylic range has recently been introduced in response to plans in some countries to ban the oil based product. My advice would be to stock up on the oil based paint if you still can.

https://uk.humbrol.com/catalogue/paints ... _Sxe2g4vwB

Thanks.

Humbrol is not so common in North America.

I might have better luck with Testors or Americana brand enamel products here. Testors comes in small spray tins which could allow for lightly feathering out from the areas of damage to make the colour blend in better with the original. But online searches of local store inventories do not show much of anything in stock at all. Out of stock. Out of stock. No longer carried. And US web vendors, also seemingly low on or out of stock, seem to ship only within the continental US and then by surface only.

Acrylic paint is easy to find. This may be my option.