Sootmaster sponge

On returning from my holidays I noted the spate of discussion about
soot removal sponges, including a couple of references to the work
Sarah Spafford and I did at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (formerly
the Saskatchewan Museum of Natural History) in 1990.  I would like
to make a couple of points regarding the use of soot removal sponges
on museum collections.

The soot removal sponges are ideal for removing fairly loose soot
deposits (not baked-on soot) from large flat surfaces such as walls
and panels.  We successfully used these sponges were used to clean
painted walls and painted marouflaged canvas on walls.  They work
very well on unvarnished surfaces which are otherwise much harder to
clean than their varnished counterparts.

There are techniques which are much more suitable for use on uneven
surfaces, smaller objects and other materials including photographs,
which would make the issue of sulphur-containing residues
irrelevant. For more information on other soot removal techniques,
please contact me directly.

The Canadian Conservation Institute conducted an analysis of a
variety of soot removal sponges. Anyone interested can refer to
Elizabeth Moffat's "Analysis of Chemical Sponges used by the
commercial fire clean-up industry to remove soot from various
surfaces," IIC-CG Bulletin 17, no.3 (1992): 9-10.  ARS reports 4000,
2445 and 2928 (each dealing with the analysis of a different sponge)
are also available by contacting Extension Services at the Canadian
Conservation Institute (613-998-3721).

Hope this clears up some of the confusion.

Fiona Graham
Canadian Conservation Institute
613-993-6111
Fax: 613-993-6781

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 10:26
                Distributed: Tuesday, September 10, 1996
                       Message Id: cdl-10-26-006
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