i need to clean my miliatry medals. what can i clean them with???HELP!?

Answer 1

Hard medals... toothpaste or baking soda and a toothbrush.

Answer 2

Hi! as a military medal collector for many years my advise would be, depending on which country the medals are issued from, if your personnel medals from your service, or family inherited from family and relations, is first to identify the material your medals are made from:

Nickel Silver, Bronze, Brass, Iron, Copper or are they plated with silver etc.. etc,.

Certain cleaning materials such as Brasso clean the metal by striping microscopic amounts of the original metal over time the definition of the design is rubbed down and lost.

Many Medal Collectors never polish there medal collections because of this, it also causes a drop in there monetary value. The dark build up is called Patina and this is caused by a natural reaction between the metal material and the air, its very noticeable on medals with a strong Silver content it make the metal looks black.

In my own personnel collection of over 550 European military medals from 1813 to the present day there are a mixture of materials.

I carefully remove the ribbons, where possible (because the old ribbons from pre-WW2 contain plant-dye and this runs even when exposed to cold water, these type ribbons are very difficult to replace with samples of original ribbon at times costing more than the value medal itself!!)

I then first give the medal a brush with an old soft tooth brush to remove dust, then I place a spot of washing-up liquid on the medal and using the soft tooth brush gently work the liquid into the surface area, rinse it off, and repeat the process a couple of times, finally I dry the medal with a paper towel, and give it a rub with a piece of nylon stocking, this last action does far less damage than a chemical cleaner.

If your medals are the Modern Type issue, again a good wash and brush should suffice, but remove the ribbon if possible, modern medal ribbon is very easily obtainable and if your ribbons look tatty then its better to completely replace the ribbons with new pieces.

Answer 3

Polish Medals

Answer 4

Are you talking the full size medals, the ribbons, or the marksmanship medals....

These are all going to be cleaned differently....

for the cloth (ribbons and the ribbon on the medals), use some liquid soap and a toothbrush then rinse in cold water an let dry.

For the metal portions, try blitz cloth, or in a pinch - toothpaste works pretty well. Use a small amount with a soft cloth..the old cotton t-shirts worked well.

Answer 5

Gerry M - 4Q - I hope you die of a painful disease ad have full conciseness during death

If you are talking about the smaller medal then first try water and a toothbrush. If they are till soiled try some (small amount of dish soap that is premixed with warm water and the tooth brush.

Go to the clothing and sales and get some new ones.

Answer 6

When I was in the army, by platoon sergeant practically made Brasso an inspectable item. It may take some work sometimes, but I have found it to work best if you want them to really shine.

Answer 7

Brasso

Answer 8

Remove the medals from the ribbons. Wipe them down with a dry cloth (I use old t-shirts as you can make lots of cloths). Then soak them in vinegar, for a few hours (or overnight if you have that kind of time). Take them out of the vinegar after a few hours (or overnight), and blot them with a paper towel or napkin, wipe the medals down with a cloth, get new vinegar and repeat the process. Normally after repeating that process once, most of the gunk and green stuff on the medals come off. You'll also notice that your medals are brighter. Once you've achieved this, get some Brasso and wipe down your medals, after that there's a product called "Never Dull magic wading polish" that'll clean whatever the Brasso missed. Once you're done with the Never Dull and no more green or black gunk comes off of the medals, apply a very light coat of clear fingernail polish on the medals, and your medals will be clean and have an excellent appearance.

Source:
11 years of service; Color Guard NCOIC

Answer 9

just use a cotten cloth only

Answer 10

BRASSO!!!!! BEST STUFF EVER