Dirty Bunting

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by Tony Smith

1. A Eucalyptus Wool Wash. Supposedly great for cleaning woollen items like jumpers, cardigans and blankets. I think this would be fine for removing the dust/dirt, but would it be any good on the rust? And how likely are the dyed colours to bleach or run?

2. Oxy Action Vanish. A Hydrogen Peroxide cleaner said to be great on removing difficult stains from clothing, but would this be too harsh on dyed wool?

3. CLR, a Calcium, Lime and Rust stain remover from concrete surfaces, drains, plumbing work, etc. I'm sure this will rip into the rust stains and lift them, but what will be left of the flag?

4. Plain simple water. Cold, Warm or Hot? This should remove the dust, but will it bleach the dye or shrink the wool?

1) would certainly remove dust and dirt, won't touch the rust stains, but might leave your flag smelling like a dropbear.

2) NEVER use this stuff on natural (or possibly un-natural) fabrics, it's a bleaching agent that will fade the colours and rot the fabric.

3) Hydrochloric acid, probably. Also inadvisable as it will attack cellulose (i.e. cotton) and may cause dyes to change colour (blue to red, for instance).

4) Cold or warm water should be fine, also most soaps or a mild detergent (washing up liquid) will remove dust and dirt.

Traditionally, lemon juice (i.e. citric acid) was used to remove "iron mould" from clothing and sheets; it will turn insoluble iron oxide (rust, FeO) into soluble iron citrate without damaging the cloth. May need several applications, and you really need to ask an expert restorer for their advice, as others have noted.

Chris.
(I have put most of a set of RN signal flags through the washing machine in the past - wound lengths of cloth around the Inglefield clips to protect the machine, and used warm wash and a gentle detergent before stretching them across the garden to dry - also making sure they didn't spell anything obscene. )

[Lang]

I have just had a look at about 10 different sites for cleaning old flags.

The consensus is for slightly soiled flags, gentle detergent or wool wash by hand is the go. No wringing or spinning just lay out to dry.

Almost every site said the best thing by far to get old flags as clean as possible without damage is dry cleaning. They stressed you should tell the dry cleaner it is a "special" so it is done individually like Christian Dior $10,000 dresses.

In the USA most dry cleaners do USA flags for free but I doubt our cleaners will be so patriotic.

Lang