How to clean these shoulder boards??

[Theodor]

Hi guys,

If you had two pairs of WW1 general boards... Very durty and all in dust and bird ****s /and I mean lots of ****s!!!/ - what would you do?? Any tips how to clean/restore them... Or leave them like that, ugly and smelly??? Brush them... put them im water... or what? /did I say water - the base is cardboard/.

[Theodor]

closer

[Theodor]

More **** I mean more boards

[Theodor]

Ok, I decided to go ahead. One pair is flat, durty, but not ****ty, also the St. Peterburg manufacturer labels are still present - so I'll keep that pair the way it came.

But the other pair was all in ****s, also the cardboard base was anything but flat. So, I cleaned them. Removed the metal parts, put the boards in not very hot water, with neutral soap. After rinsing, put them in papers, pressed with big flat weight. The papers absorbed the water /oftenly changed the papers with dry ones/, the weight flattened the cardboard to its original flat shape. I think I like the result.

[Sergey]

Hello Theodor. Dont tuch them.

[pegasus]

cleaning

dont clean them

Ok, I decided to go ahead. One pair is flat, durty, but not ****ty, also the St. Peterburg manufacturer labels are still present - so I'll keep that pair the way it came.

But the other pair was all in ****s, also the cardboard base was anything but flat. So, I cleaned them. Removed the metal parts, put the boards in not very hot water, with neutral soap. After rinsing, put them in papers, pressed with big flat weight. The papers absorbed the water /oftenly changed the papers with dry ones/, the weight flattened the cardboard to its original flat shape. I think I like the result.

[kaiserzeit]

Hello Theodor,

You are very brave.

I tend to agree with Pegasus and Sergey, that they are best left in their original condition. Many collectors are absolute purists and want pieces in their original state. If ever you wanted to trade or sell these boards, you lose them as a market.

However, now that you have cleaned one set, I urge you to keep a set of photos to demonstrate the "before" and "after". Call it part of documenting the history of these pieces.

If you know who they belonged to originally, that would be wonderful.

Cheers,

Laurie

[atlantis]

"Pips" on boards

Interesting thread but on a totally different note...

Doesn't anyone find the "pips" on these boards unusual? In my opinion, they are not correct for the pattern used on Imperial Russian boards. Are these Russian bases made for a foreign market?

Interested in comments.

Respectfully,

Brad LeMay

[Daniel Murphy]

They are not Russian, They are Bulgarian pre-WW1. That is why there is a lion on the buttons instead of the double headed eagle of Russia. I restored a crushed 1915 pattern busby in the same way. It was completely crushed with one side meeting the other and was nothing but parts and trash when I got it. There was nowhere to go but up. I removed everything (hide, liner, etc.) from the frame, which was cardboard, soaked it, reshaped it and put it back together with silk thread. There was no hair left on it from the abuse it had taken, I am still looking for some hide with which to finish the restoration. It looks great with a cover and is at least presentable. With some hide it will be beautiful.
Dan Murphy

[atlantis]

Thanks

Thank you for the clarification. Noted that they were made in Petersburg but did not notice the buttons. Obviously Bulgaria used pattern braid from the Russian suppliers.

Thank you again for the information.

With my regards,

Brad

[want romanian]

These shoulderboards are Russian made for the Bulgarian market. They were worn before WW1 through WW1. The rank is for a Lieutenant General. This pair is tarnished black which indicates that it is pre-1914 manufacture and made of 94% silver wire. Cleaning them presents a real problem. These boards were probably gold gilted silver wire and you will remove what is left of the gilting. Being dry and about 100 years old, the threads will disintigrate. Also, your boards will look bright and fresh for the first year or two. However, being made of silver wire, they will now oxidize very rapidly turning completely black and they will look worse then if you would have kept them unrestored. It is best to keep these in relic condition.

[regular122]

Theo,

I know this is the big debate on whether to restore or to leave as is, but I think you did a great job. You removed relic 'dirt.' I wonder what that dirt is worth now? The item is still the item.

If certain items are not preserved (not all by the way), in my opinion, the risk to total damage and eventual loss to the metal is inevitable. My opinion is rather than allow the metal to be lost, it is better to preserve. As long as you keep them from oxygen in the way you store or display them, they will certainly not look or get worse than what they were before you started. I know I'll have a million members that disagree, but I like what you did. Nice preservation. Steve

[Theodor]

Hi Steve, if it was "historical dirt", patina, I'd rather leave it. But it was deep and quite fresh layer of bird sh*t - which is very chemically aggressive. The cars are a good example - a small bird sh*t can damage the hard and strong laquier of the paint! The other pair was not that problem, so I left it as is.

[regular122]

I agree. There comes a point that the item will be better preserved by cleaning, such as the case here. Patina is different in many cases, although there comes a cross-over point when the item is deteriorating and some patina gets lost with the general cleaning to preserve the item, such as on your pips on the shoulder boards. You see it too, when say a spike helmet is cleaned. Tony does a superb job in cleaning his helmets as shown on his Kaiser's Bunker website, but still others would argue against it. I think the boards are more desirable and valuable without the relic bird poop personally. Steve

[Tod Rathbone]

All for restoration

Theo,

I totally support your restoration efforts. In fact, I feel there is a dearth of restoration advice, information and support in our field. I feel it is part of our duty to preserve these items for the future. Based on what you had, those boards would not have made it very long. Aggressive deterioration like verdegris, oils, dirts, bugs - these will eventually ruin the pieces. Watching the Smithsoinian preserve the original start spangled banner is a great example. There is a big difference between patina, which is well-deserved age vs. harm to the materials.

Cheers,

Tod