Cleaning up yellowed/grubby plastic?

From: Teo Zenios <teoz_at_neo.rr.com>
Date: Tue Aug 24 12:52:55 2004

----- Original Message -----
From: "steve" <gkicomputers_at_yahoo.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2004 12:27 PM
Subject: Re: Cleaning up yellowed/grubby plastic?


>
> --- Philip Pemberton <philpem_at_dsl.pipex.com> wrote:
> Is this just one of those things that happens to
> > plastics that's best
> > ignored?
> >
>
> Yes, and remember, ugly finishes turn magically into
> "patina" at some point in time, at least according to
> the Antique Road Show folks. Then rich people, for
> some reason, are unable to restrain themselves from
> paying huge prices for it.(these are the same rich
> people who return brand new furniture because a
> quarter square inch of the finish is slightly
> blemished, go figure)
>

The problem is new furniture has to look 100% new, while something 200+
years old has to look vintage (some signs of normal ageing). While some rich
person would love to have a piece of furniture that Napoleon might have
scuffed with his boot (a good story helps) they don't want a new table they
spent tons of money on to get dinged by the movers (no interesting story
there).

When car restoration started getting popular some company came out with
paint that cracks when it dries so that old rusted heaps could be
refurbished and still have the cracked paint the rest of the machines of
that vintage had. If I pay $300,000 for a new Ferrari (yea I wish I had that
kind of cash) it better not have a chip anywhere or its going back.

"Patina" I think is a term also used for older coins, the oxide that forms
on a silver or copper coin actually preserves it from further damage,
cleaning it would destroy detail and it will oxidize again anyway.
Received on Tue Aug 24 2004 - 12:52:55 BST