To begin with the tips of cleaning and maintaining your antique collection you need to know what antique collection really are. Antique pieces are such unique items which belong to or were made in the early periods of time. Early periods of time basically refers to the ancient times. Antique objects are typically old fashioned and are valued because of their age, beauty, artistry and the origin. Your collection of antique pieces may be of various types. It may range from antique furniture to antique beds or antique piece of art work or something very old school like a hand mirror. But the question is how you will clean such antique collection and maintain them so that their age goes on increasing.
The care for the antique pieces is a much valuable work because they are really costly and in future would be inherited by your successors as well. Earlier the wooden items that now have become antique items were first applied with linseed oil which made the wood to look dark. After years of not polishing it a layer of grime builds up. Grime is a term that is used to describe the accumulated the dust, dirt and cooking fumes that gets stuck on the antique pieces. There are ways to remove such dirt and clean those.
Firstly the wax needs to be removed. You will get wax cleaners or wax strippers from any hardware store. If they are not available then paint thinner can also be used. Now how will you use the wax cleaner? The first and foremost thing that you should keep in mind is to wear proper rubber gloves. Then you must pour the cleaner into any glass bowl and dip some super fine steel wool into it. After it gets wet apply it over the waxed area. Keep wiping the area over and over again so that the wax completely goes away. Often on an antique piece you may find that there is a white oily substance. This is nothing but the scum of the cleaner with which you have cleaned the wax off. This oily residue should also be cleaned. Washing this is much easier than wiping the wax. You will just need some liquid soap used for washing dishes and water. But remember that the liquid soap must be a concentrated solution. So after taking all these things into account start off with the washing procedure. Small areas need to be washed at a time. The wet substance should not soak into the material and for that you have to keep a dry cloth in hand to wipe the area as soon as it is cleaned. After you have cleaned the whole thing wash it again with normal water and wipe it dry. If you find that the antique piece of your has any scratch or marks on it then immediately shade it with any wood colored felt pen or a stain pen. This will hide the marks. To finish off with the cleaning and maintaining procedure of your antique collection try to wax it up with a double coat of Goddard’s Cabinetmakers Wax. What this will do is it will give a long term protection to your antique pieces and will make sure that they do not get dirty.