With the assistance of some very nice people I was able to acquire this beautiful dichotomy of my first meaningful deck.  I say dichotomy because its the dark horse version of my old white set up.  Well kind of...I had black, all steel Gull Wings with first version green Bullets.

With a background in fine arts along with experience in the art-handling field, inside and outside of museums, it's only natural that I find enjoyment in the clean-up of an old complete.  I hadn't intended to document the clean-up of this complete but the idea came to mind while photographing the before and after work on the grip tape.  I probably could have used more shots of paint transfer/scuff removal from the screen-print and painted areas but the basic clean-up ideas are there.

In these circumstances, I don't believe in adding any product to the deck like paint touch ups and oils to anything other than the hardware.

I have a thing for Windex, the light ammonia solution for cleaning windows.  I don't always use it because it can dry or lift things like poor quality inks.  The nice thing about a lot of old Santa Cruz decks is that the screen prints are typically very stable.  I usually stick to mild soap and water solutions on many graphics but often when it comes to other areas like grip tape or large blocks of stable color I grab Windex as a solution of choice.  I like that it dries faster than normally dampened areas.  Also, on spots like grip it doesn't bubble up and get creamy like a soapy solution might.  To clean the grip in this case I grabbed the good old toothbrush and light ammonia solution. After spraying down a small area I began scrubbing away while blotting off the liquid, using a paper towel to remove the dirty solution.  This usually takes repeated efforts and works better on the rougher grained grips.  When it comes to paint drips and other areas of difficult removal, I resort to a needle type tip to scratch between the grains of the grip, popping out dirt and paint debris.

Then there is the dampened wash down of the entire deck with a mild cleaning solution to get the primary dirt and debris.  Often, this has to be done fairly carefully on decks that have areas of paint flaking to prevent further loss.

On vintage decks there are usually areas where the deck has bumped across another painted surface creating color transfers on to the deck.  Even the colors from one screen print area will often get smeared into another part of the graphic.  These scuffs and other types of hard to remove dirty areas can often be dealt with using a mild abrasive.  Which leads me to another one of my favorite products, an oldie but a goodie, Arm & Hammer Baking Soda and water.

I like to use this product in minimal amounts on the end of a wet Q-tip or small wadding of wet paper towel.  There are a couple of considerations to keep in mind while using this abrasive.  It is an abrasive so it will slowly remove the color that is under it.  Keep this in check by consistently watching the tip of your rubbing device.  Another thought is that depending on how hard you push, you can create sheen change to that area.  I try to avoid this by using small circular motions and preventing a heavy handed application.  Many times a slight sheen change is less distracting than a large paint smear but use your best judgment when it comes to those aesthetic choices.  The final thing to avoid is pushing the material around to the extent of placing it in tiny stress cracks or in the edges of paint loss.  I've always had great luck with its use.

When it comes to the trucks and hardware; I'll also often use Arm & Hammer in these situations to remove paint transfers.  As far as the harder to get oxidation, I break out the fine steel wool.  Usually the metal hardware can us a light drop of oil.