Eat your heart out Pemberton!

[Mikey P]

Low and behold this 1940's beauty!


pre vac..

going deep..

protect the floor..

mix up the juice..

point out the flaws (see the goofy patch?)

looks like RIcky and Lucy needed an extra ashtray around..

bad kitty..

is Dualing with an AT and 2.5 hose straight to the SS uph tool overkill?

lay out visqueen for drying..

No idea what it was made of, "smelled" like a linen/nylon/poly blend.



fun stuff.

 

[shadygrady]

Sweet Mikey, I see a few of those each year. I price them as restoration cleaning due to the time required. I see you must have had the same issues with that wimpy end hose on the SS hand-pieces. I replace the flopd.ck end hose due to it collapsing. Has anyone have an explanation why SS would use sturdy hose and extra pliable on the same tool. Maybe someone from SS could explain their reasoning why we need to modify / correct a brand new $600.00 tool.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Cleaners in southwestern PA find that furniture throughout homes to this day.

Of course it eventually makes its way to the porches of frat houses before being ritually burned after the local college football team wins over a rival or at homecoming.

That said, nicely done Mike, and great pics.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Where are Fred & Ethel?

My mom & dad had a brown/grey 3-piece set like that when we were growing up.

Amazing it's still around. Looks like it cleaned up nicely.

 

[Mikey P]

I was told they were bought new at Sears and Robuck.co..

Were these the Canadian Microfiber of their day?

 

[Desk Jockey]

Not sure but my guess is a second hand store, I remember going with my mom to "The People's Store" downtown. You could buy on credit and make monthly payments. It was a cool old building downtown with three floors of used furnishings, I always enjoyed shopping there.

We were poor when I was a kid. I just never knew it, it seemed like we never went without anything. I remember shopping at the derailed commodities store too. Dented cans and smashed boxes saved you plenty over full price, food was still good.

I don't know how my parents did it. Well, they worked hard, I'm sure it helped.

 

[rwcarpet]

Still see a few around here. Big problem with older furniture like that.....dry rot. You can be wizzing along cleaning, and the vac can can grab the weaker parts and tear 'em wide open. Ask me how I know?? I warned custy before we started.

 

[shadygrady]

I am in cottage country. Tons of this stuff finds its way here thru auctons, hand-me downs etc. Any comments on that hand-piece.

 

[Mikey P]

Nothing is perfect nut the SS uph tool is my favorite. Love the light weight and control of the water.

The foam core has petrified in the cushion, each must have weighed 40 pounds

 

[Desk Jockey]

Smell like dyes when you hit it with the heat? I seem to remember it having a strong dye odor.

 

[Mikey P]

not sure what dyes smell like but every linen or linen blend has the same musty odor once it's been wetted down.

 

[billyeadon]

Mike,
Wish you would have done a burn test. I am wondering why you think the fabric would have included linen.

plus those sofas are the ones my grandmother always had covered in vinyl.

 

[Mikey P]

just "that" smell..



the other burn tests done over the years ain't good enough?

 

[The Great Oz]

Nylon, might be the most durable fiber/weave next to wool. Musty smell may have come from cotton batting used in the arms and behind the fabric in the back.

 

[GeneMiller]

The one burn definitely shows synthetic. The shampoo surprises me since they are almost impossible to rinse out.
I never thought about carrying plastic to stack on but we do carry an 800' roll of 3' wide paper for that use. We first clean and stack on paniters drop cloths then tranfer to the paper. It also doubles for leave behinds at doorways

gene

 

[Mikey P]

Th Prochem shampoo rinses out just fine. Along with some Snake Oil for the tough spots, it's great for finer uph fabrics.

This lady was real sceptical about us cleaning it at all due to age and she had done enough research to know not to use anything alkaline on it. She wanted to see the jug as well.


Since California just got discovered a few years ago, we don't see these old pieces much, if ever.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

I would think that furniture would be illegal in California.

On a serious note, Fine Fabric Shampoo is a vastly under appreciated product. Here's some cleaning industry historical trivia:

Its name in the 70's was Commercial Carpet Shampoo.

 

[KevinD]

This lady was real sceptical about us cleaning it at all due to age and she had done enough research to know not to use anything alkaline on it.

Really, no alkaline?
I must have nuked a few hundred of those in my 34 year career here in the east.
Very durable and never a problem. I'd put that fabric in the category with 501 nylon.

 

[Mikey P]

That's what she wanted Kevin. No rain to go against her wishes.

 

[billyeadon]

I have always been partial to PC FFS. Very similar to the Matrix product Radiant.