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I have a variety of older articles that were factory-painted with "wrinkle-paint", among them, various Atwater-Kent metal-cabinet radios and horn speakers, electric fans, and the interior metal parts of my Victrola VV 2-55 Orthophonic portable.


One of the unfortunate qualities of wrinkle-paint is that it tends to trap dust and dirt in its texture.

Does anyone have any effective methods for removing the dust and dirt w/o harming the paint itself ?


(Let's assume the paint in question is "sound", and not flaking or peeling. )


Thanks !

I have never had luck cleaning such a surface. With a soft scrub brush you can get into all those little crevices, but when you wipe the surface clean those crevices just trap some of the dirty cleaner. I have come to the belief that you need to employ something proactive like ultrasonic or high pressure (relative term) spray rinse.

You may try contacting a few larger museums and ask to speak to their restoration experts. They may be tricks out there us mere collectors haven't learned yet.

You might try blowing the moisture off the surface with compressed air

Well, this may or may not be relevant, but about 10 years ago I found a 1966 Fender Bassman amp very much like the one I played through when I was in a band during college. It was in nice shape, but the black Tolex covering had decades of grime on it. (For those of you not familiar with this Tolex, it has a faux grain sort of like a pebbly leather.) I cleaned the Tolex with various products without getting all the gunk out of the crevices, nooks, crannies, etc. Then I tried Armor-All; the stuff you use on tires, dashboards, etc. The result after light scrubbing with a soft brush was a consistent, clean appearance which has stayed that way for a decade.

You might want to try it on a small unseen area. I don't think it could harm sound paint.

George P.

I clean the surface with a brush & Fantastik. It sometimes looks dull afterward. I then a apply a light spray coating of clear enamel. I tbrings back depth and color. I know this sounds like a tacky approach but I believe it really does look good as long as you don't go overboard with the clear coat.

Brad,
Try dabbing the cleaner off rather than wiping it.