I have my own techniques. For the record, I now only use Blue Spray
to protect a surface that won't be used for a while. I don't use it
for cleaning.
Now, for cleaning.
Ingredients:
Kitchen sink with sprayer.
91%+ Isopropyl alcohol (1 pt.). 99% is better.
Distilled water (1 gal.)
0 cotton balls ;-)
If your mirror is small enough, place it in the sink. Otherwise,
a garden hose outside should work just as well.
Firstly, remove all of the really big loose stuff with air/what
have you.
Next, using ordinary tap water, wet the mirror down thoroghly. This
removes all the gunk and grime. Do this until you are happy.
Next, rinse thoroghly with distilled water, to get rid of any
contaminanants from the tap. This step is probably unnecessary,
but I do it anyway.
Lastly, sluice the alcohol over the mirror, preferably from a
fresh bottle, as it should have very little water in it. This
drives off all of the water. Repeat if necessary.
Put the mirror up to dry. It should be free of spots, stains
and gunk.
The important point is that the surface is never touched with
cotton balls or any other object. I have seen cotton balls
leave a fine network of scratches in standard aluminum, although
they may not harm overcoated mirrors. Since I don't have any
overcoated mirrors to test, I don't know.
This method works well enough that at WUTS at least one person
remarked that I had the only really clean mirror there.
If your mirror box is well enough made and doesn't mind getting
wet, you can use this technique <i>in situ</i>. If fact, that's
how I orginally saw it presented on a French ATM site.
Another method that works well is collodion USP. I think the
cost is on par with Blue Spray, and it is reputed to work better.
-- archer
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