A question for you serious collectors...

[AL_as_needed]

Compared to many other on here, my collection is quite small and of the phones I do have, I only have space to display a handful at a time. Even with only half a dozen phone on display I find keeping them fairly dust free to be quite a challenge.

I have been using a soft brush head on the vacuum to get the heavy stuff, but that isn't fool proof. In the past I have also used a basic cotton cloth but that takes a lot of time as I end up taking each phone and wiping every surface one at a time.

Any other tricks?

[Pourme]

~

That's easy, Al....Hands down Swiffer Duster! You can even dust under the phones and

finger dials without touching the phone! They are made to hold on to the dust and not just move it around. One refill lasts a long time.

Benny

[Butch Harlow]

I will second the swifter duster. Been using them for years. I also have over 1000 Pez dispensers  displayed throughout my tiny apartment. They really do last awhile.

[TelePlay]

Another similar option is a wool duster and a can of Endust. They are a bit pricey but have a much finer "bristle" of soft wool to get into corners and other hard to reach spaces when dusting. I have Swifter dusters for home use, find the wool wand better for knick knacks and phones.

[Jim Stettler]

A tried and true method is:
Just let them get dusty.
Jim S.

I have used a duster from the dollar store. It had fine strands, which helps get under dials and it small spots.

[AE_Collector]

Phones attract dust? I hadn't noticed!

Terry

[AL_as_needed]

Phones attract dust? I hadn't noticed!
Terry

And cat hair! 

[twocvbloke]

That's easy, Al....Hands down Swiffer Duster!

Them dusters are great on vinyl records too, reduces static noise on them quite effectively...

Well, the ones I have are the Pledge "Fluffy Duster", same thing, different name...

[paul-f]

Another approach is to put the phones in a cabinet with glass doors.

Only about 1% of my collection has that treatment, but it's by far the cleanest 1%.

Edit: The main display in the cabinet includes 500-series sets in each color -- in color code order. Originally, all were 500D sets. Since I collect variations, I've been gradually replacing the Ds with other models.  The current list is added below. (The photo is older than the list and a few more Ds were replaced before the list was made.)

[jsowers]

Christian probably drooled on his keyboard and shorted it out, looking at Paul's picture. 

Seriously, Paul, that's a nice grouping of phones and some pretty rare stuff too. A beautiful display that belongs in a nice cabinet. I wish I had a place to put a cabinet like that. My house is too small. It's also not very dusty, and for that I am grateful.

[AE_Collector]

I "Leich" the Leich 40 PABX Console. Have one of them around here somewhere. I junked a lot more of them.

I have the main part of my phone collection in cabinets with glass doors so maybe there is not too much dust but it's still a mess in there due to never enough room.

Terry

[paul-f]

Seriously, Paul, that's a nice grouping of phones and some pretty rare stuff too.

Thanks for the comments, Jonathan and Terry.

Although I posted the photo mainly to show the oak cabinet with glass doors, it's hard to avoid looking at the phones. It's tough to guess what model variations are displayed without a list, so I added one to the previous post.

Terry: You're fortunate to have so much behind glass. Your comment reminded me that I have occasionally draped bed sheets in front of the open shelves when doing messy things like woodworking in the nearby shop. It helped, and also minimizes light damage.   

[AE_Collector]

I've often thought that I should wax all the sunlight sensitive phones with what is it....Turtle Wax 409 that has UV inhibitors in it? But I always put it off until I get the display more settled which has been "going to happen" for years now.

Note the two acrylic posts that are the handset cradles on the Leich console. We junked so many Leich pbx's that we started keeping these acrylic posts back then in the mid 1980's as we were also all getting into home computer set ups at the time and the printers of the day were dot matrix. We found that 4 of these posts mounted to the base of the printer as feet lifted it up off the desk high enough to put its stack of fan fold perforated edge paper under the printer!

Had I been thinking I would have kept one of the even older gray Leich consoles that had typewriter style keys.

Terry

[Dan/Panther]

I find that dust is going to happen. What I do to limit the amount of dust collecting. I make sure the room where I display my phones is relatively sealed from the rest of the house. Window closed, door kept closed, and if you have central air close the vent to that room. This will cut down for dust substantially.
I have a barn with a loft that has been converted to a room. I use it to store items I rarely use, but still don't want them exposed to the elements. I keep this room completely closed up almost constantly. I lived here 18 years, and I can run my finger across any surface and get zero dust. We live in a very windy dusty area, so much so that I can literally sweep sand from my entry way on a daily basis. Through the course of the day it gets carrried to all parts of the house EXCEPT my closed room.

D/P

[oldguy]

Thanks for the insight guys. The stiffer sounds like a good idea, since a dust rag takes forever. My display in on open shelving & I live in the boonies with a long gravel driveway, so we have plenty of dust.