Cleaning

[Robert Lundin]

I have this WWI blade that I would like to clean from old oil and grime, of course while preserving the original lacquer. Any tips would be most welcome

[Dbahnson]

According to Bob Gardner, the best method is a very light cleaning with mild detergent followed by high quality beeswax. Be careful to remove only dirt, not finish or portions of the decal, and unless the dirt is clearly visible even the cleaning step can be skipped.

[Robert Lundin]

Thank you for the tip about bees wax.
In other renovation jobs - much less sensitive than this - I have used oven cleaner, but that seems like a very big no-no here