Whitening a snoopy phone

[Mainephones]

What works to restore the yellowing of a white phone? Is there any basic household cleaner that will suffice?

Thanks for your help,
Ken

[Dan/Panther]

Check here.

D/P

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=745.msg10107;topicseen#msg10107

[bingster]

As an addendum to linked post, many white phones can be whitened by bathing in a simple solution of bleach and water.  It depends on what kind of discoloration has happened.  Surface discoloration from nicotine and other contaminants can be eliminated easily with clorox while the discoloration caused by the aging of the plastic requires the more complex peroxide treatment.

[Tim Mc]

I have a pair of Snoopy phones, one rotary and one keypad that I finally got around to cleaning this week.  One Snoopy was off-white and faded, while the other was acceptable.  After disassembling the off-white Snoopy, I placed the head, receiver hand and two body pieces into a large clear zip-lock bag, added hydrogen peroxide and sat the parts in bright sunlight for several hours.  Snoopy is just like new, so new in fact that I decided to zap the other one with a peroxide treatment.

[TelePlay]

. . . added hydrogen peroxide . . .

Was this the liquid hydrogen peroxide right out of the brown plastic bottle or was it the hair salon developer peroxide which is more of a cream than a liquid?

If the liquid, how did you keep it in contact with the plastic?

Just curious here . . .

[LarryInMichigan]

I have been using chlorine bleach and water, as someone here recommended, lately, and it seems to work, at least on warm, sunny days (which are uncommon here in SE Michigan).

Larry

[Tim Mc]

For my two snoopy bodies and heads I just poured liquid hydrogen peroxide in a clear zip-loc bag straight from the brown plastic bottle.  I tried to get the parts wet and would flip the parts every few hours.  I suspect that the gas created by the sunlight is what restored the plastic rather than direct contact or immersion in the liquid.  There is no spotting, no streaking and both shells turned out great.  The black details (ears, lips) and red collar were undamaged.

Oh, I also threw a faded WE 554 aqua faceplate in the bag to 'cook'.  It's now the right shade of aqua again.

[Charles]

I used the peroxide whitening method on an old Princess phone and it works great but I noticed that a year later the plastic started to yellow again.