Cleaning Cane Grill Cloth

[Gilbert]

Does anyone have experience with, and recommendation's for cleaning cane grill cloth?

Or, maybe I should just leave it alone.

There are no tears, except for 2 tiny breaks in the cane weeve, which I was able to repair. I originally thought the grill cloth was discolored due to age. But when I removed the motor board, I was pleased to see an exact color match on the portion of grill cloth sandwiched against the cabinet.

I would very much like to clean them (gently of course) and apply some type of preservative, but I don't want to risk damaging them. Any and all opinions welcome. The speakers are reportedly 1961 vintage.

[boom3]

I have some experience cleaning fabric of various types. The question is, what are you trying to clean? If your fabric has simply faded from age, then there is nothing to clean. If you are trying to remove tobacco smoke residue (very common with products that age) then Fantastic or 409 sprayed on a lint free cloth and gently rubbed on the fabric will help. Try on an obscure part of the grill first. The worst problem with this kind of cleaning is streaking, so it's important to do a uniform job. I cleaned the grilles (not same material as the cane grilles) of my 86 Corns recently with Turtle Wax spray auto upholstery cleaner, spraying just enough to see foam form on the fabric, and then wiping off and blotting with dry paper towels. Should go without saying I removed the grilles and stood them in a dry bathtub first! I sprayed Fantastic on paper towels and gently wiped the baffles to get the smoke off them.

As far as 'preserving' fabric grilles, I'd be cautious about applying anything. Preservatives tend to fall in three classes: barrier (wax, silicone, varnish etc, ScotchGuard), lubricant (oils) and formaldhyde (ArmorAll and certain clones).

Anything you apply will have to be removed later. ScotchGuard may be appropriate for some fabrics, but I would not try it on anything irreplacable. Barriers and lubricants can cause fabrics to break down or may darken them. Formaldehyde is not something I would use on fabrics, particularly those with old plastic in them.

In sum, if the appearence of the grilles is unacceptable, I'd simply find new material and replace them.

[Gilbert]

Thanks boom.

I was planning on using a product called Dry Clean. It's very popular with cleaning soiled automotive carpets. I was also planing on Scotch Guard, but will need to do more chemical research on it's contents.

My reason for wanting to clean them is to remove any residue or particulates that have accumulated over the past 43yrs. These speakers old, and have never been cared for in the sense that the owner just placed them in a corner for listening, and never touched them. No oiling of the veneer, nothing. So I assume he did the same with the grills.

[tkot]

blow out the cane with compressed air

this will remove all dry dust, lint, ect

i have over the years had to remove pop, beer and of all things milk from my cornwall grills

all i used was warm water with a few drops of dawn dishwashing liquid, and a soft white cotton towel. after a light scrub

i the air dried the cane with compressed air this prevents any water spotting

i would not recomend this warm water wash unless you blow out the cane first if you get it wet with all the dust and stuff still in the grill it will stain for sure

i found out the hard way on my heresys

lucky for me they still had the cane cloth in stock so i just regrilled them

jay