horn polish?

[USlakeside]

I finally have a beautiful large petal horn for my Victor V! Wooooo. My machine is complete! (must profess my joy on the forum-roommates seem rather confused by the phonograph)

Maybe this has been covered before, but can anyone suggest how to clean up a black petal horn for a victor? I just got a horn for my Victor V and I want to give it a bit of a clean up.
I have used Mothers Metal Polish in the past, but maybe there is a better/safer solution?


Thanks!

[Aaron]

There is a product sold in most home improvement stores that is use to polish black on stoves...Im not sure if this is correct but i believe it is simply called stove black, but I'm not positive. I used it once before after a friend recommended it to me and it worked well. It polishes black very nicely...

Aaron

[gramophoneshane]

I guess it depends on what you mean by "clean up".
If the paint is fairly stable, I'd treat it pretty much like the family car. I'd give it a wash & allow it to dry properly, then wax it. If it's pretty dull, a liquid cut & polish applied carefully should restore the paint, and then follow up with a coat of hard wax. It comes in a tin like an oversized shoe polish tin, and is hard like shoe polish or beeswax, but is meant for cars/paintwork.
This type of wax won't leave white residue along the seams etc where you cant get the rag in, but should shin the horn up like new.
I'd avoid any sort of metal polish unless the paint is really bad or you're trying to polish out rust spots.
A horn freckled with rust spots would probably respond well to stove black, as it would colour up the spots and even the whole finish- although I haven't tried it myself.

[USlakeside]

I just washed it down. The horn is in great condition. its obviously old, but its not bad off at all. The wash did the trick. Whats the best wax?

[DrGregC]

Try "Oz Cream Polish" (Behlen). I learned to use this on all types of horns from Charlie Martin, former proprietor of The Place in Bristol, PA. Charlie is an icon in our hobby and knows more about repair & refurbishing phonographs than just about anyone.

I recently used it on a dark blue H&S horn with floral painting. It is truly a polish. No chalky white residue. Just wipe on and gently polish. Try it, you'll like it.

[Valecnik]

I have not cleaned one of these in a long time but "Oz Cream Polish" sounds like it might do the trick. In the past I've used Turtle wax and a soft cotton cloth, (no steel wool or anything abrasive like that) and that worked pretty well too but if you are not careful you can end up with some of the white residue in the seams as has been mentioned above. Of course beware of the gold pinstriping and most of all the decal.