How To Clean A Carved Camphor Chest

cleaning carved chest

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I have inherited a large very heavily carved chest. It came from the Far East and I have no idea what kind of wood it is. It is beautiful but very dirty and I'm wondering what the best way is to clean it. (No doubt huge amounts of q-tips will figure in the answers!)
Thank you.

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Two linen or cotton tea towels (the flat sort with no pile).

One bowl of tepid soapy water.

Dampen one tea towel with the soapy water, wring well and dab at the wood.

Use other tea towel to dry.

Don't allow wood to get over wet.

When you are satisfied the dirt has been removed, polish with a good qualtiy beeswax after a minimum of 48 hours, to make sure you are not trapping any moisture.

The buff like billy - o with a soft cloth.

The commonest type of carved chest brought back to Britain from the Far East by military personnel etc was the camphor wood sort. (In fact, it used to be said that, at the end of a tour of duty, you would go home with a new child or a camphor wood chest!)
I don't doubt but that Ethel's answer is fine but there may well be particular things that need to be considered for this particular wood. Sorry, but I don't know what these are personally...I just thought it worth suggesting the probable name.

Apologies to Ethel but I would suggest, based on info that a joiner gave me many years ago, that your first recourse is a good brush, something like a clothes brush or shoe brush, NOT a suede brush, and see what that comes up like, and then follow Ethel's advice. With all of such advice start as gently as possible if any of the carvings appear delicate.

Good point there, fitzer!

Yes - brush as much of the dust and loose dirt off as you can before anything else.

Question Author

Thanks (especially to you Ethel) I'll get cracking at the weekend. It's such a beautiful object that it deserves to be shown off.

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