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Eradicating that musty smell from old gear?
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I bought an Olympus OM20 + Flash from eBay and it arrived earlier this week.
The kit came in a leather box, the camera inside had it’s own leather case and the flash was in a leather pouch. I’d imagine all the boxing and casing was official Olympus product as the box was designed to hold everything in it’s own place… so worth keeping methinks.
The only problem was that all the leather bits stink of that old, old, old stale smell… and I was just wondering if anyone knows of a quick and simple method of getting eradicating the smell?
I’ve googled and come across a couple of good recommendations.. but they all used U.S. products which I don’t think are available in Ireland.
Anyone?
Probably caused by fungus. Heat to 64C and maintain the temperature for
5 minutes then store them in a sealed container with a 60 watt light bulb
on at all times. The light bulb maintains a highish temperature and a dry
environment and also discourages many fungi that prefer dark.Charcoal is good for getting rid of lots of smells. Maybe the use of Odour Eaters insoles for shoes might help.
Back in the day I was a bit of a car valet and from time to time you would
get the odd stinker in for a cleaning,dampness,sour milk and so on
What I used to get rid of most bad smell was a little saucer of vinegar
I just sat the saucer near the area that were worst for a few hours or if you
had the time overnight
So I would put all your items into a box with a little saucer or tub of vinegar and see if that will helpBTW it works on underpants also(the arrow told me) :D
Thanks lads.
The gear has been sitting in a bag with some bread soda since yesterday… like vinegar it is ‘supposed’ to absorb odours.
I’ve used a vinegar/water solution in the past to clean the young lads matress… he wet it a few times when he was a nipper and it works very well at eradicating the smell.
If the bread soda doesn’t work then I’ll try the water/vinegar solution.
Cheers
JI normally regard that smell as part of the character of older bits of equipment I own unless it’s accompanied by nastiness like water marks or fungus (particularly lenses, then I cry), the charcoal solution is one a friend uses when he gets second hand gear and he swears by it.
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