Washing Cloth Cords

[HowardPgh]

Is it safe to wash dirty cloth cords?
My main concern is with ones that have cloth covered inner conductors.
Also- Any way to rescue crumbly rubber covered inner conductors.
Howard

[Phonesrfun]

I have washed fabric cords before, but I would not run them through a washing machine.  Just soak them, and then allow them to thoroughly dry out.  The inner conductors should be fine as long as they are not already damaged.  I also would not do it very often, just because the fabric on some of those older cords can become brittle in their own right.

Once a rubber cord starts to crumble or get real hard or both, there really is nothing that you can do, as far as I know.  I think it would be analogous to rubbing something on a tree that had been eaten by termites.  You can kill the termites, but you can't reconstruct the wood.

[TelePlay]

Bill,

Do you use Woolite and line and handset cloth cords?

I've used Woolite on 302 internal base wires to get them back to color but haven't had a line or handset cord that needed cleaning yet. Actually, I have very few and haven't gotten to them yet so, what do you use and how do you use it?

Thanks for any tips.

[Dennis Markham]

I've used Woolite on cloth cords.  I soak them in warm water with the Woolite.  I use a tooth brush to "scrub" them and then rinse and let them air dry.  It often improves the condition and removes years of dirt.  Especially noticeable on the lighter color like Ivory.

[Doug Rose]

I've used Woolite on cloth cords.  I soak them in warm water with the Woolite.  I use a tooth brush to "scrub" them and then rinse and let them air dry.  It often improves the condition and removes years of dirt.  Especially noticeable on the lighter color like Ivory.

Dennis...is that why your teeth are so white! You should really use a different toothbrush 

[jsowers]

I've also used Woolite and warm water to soak cloth cords. I then wind them around a dowel while they're still warm and let them dry. That usually gets them back to something close to normal. When the rubber loses elasticity, there's just so much you can do. They still don't spring back easily.

Just an FYI--I don't think I'd use the hot dashboard treatment on a crumbling cord. That works for the 500 set vinyl cords, but it may make the rubber in cloth cords deteriorate even more.

Doug, did you ever see that kooky movie called Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, But Were Afraid to Ask? Woody Allen plays this man in love with a sheep. She leaves him for someone else. The last thing we see is him, sitting against the wall, dejected, drinking a bottle of Woolite. 

[Doug Rose]

Jonathan...I did see that movie....as a young impressionable youth, the gigantic breast had a lasting impression

[Bill]

As an experiment, I dishwasher'ed a cloth cord. Big mistake. Fortunately it was in near-useless condition to start with, so little was lost.

Bill

[deedubya3800]

Is OxyClean safe to use on cloth cords?