A job in a dusty old library basement made me rethink my whole approach to cleaning

Got a call from a small town library in Millerton, about an hour north of here, for a dead public computer. The thing was in the basement archives, which was basically a time capsule from the 80s, with that thick, settled dust on everything. I popped the side panel off and it was like a felt blanket of dust and paper fibers coating the entire inside. I blew it out with my usual can of air, but the dust just swirled around and settled right back. The head librarian walked by, saw me, and said, 'You know, we use a soft paintbrush and a vacuum hose for the books down here. Gentle pulls it out.' I felt like an idiot. I tried it, holding the vacuum nozzle near the board and lightly brushing the dust toward it, and it came completely clean without throwing grit everywhere. Now I keep a cheap makeup brush in my kit. Has anyone else found a better tool for pulling dust out of old systems without making a bigger mess?

3 comments

3 Comments

masongonzalez2mo ago

Oh man, I've totally been that guy with the air can just making a dust storm. The makeup brush trick is a lifesaver.

ericj452mo ago

My vacuum hose gets it all.

the_christopher2mo ago

I used to blast everything with air too, but the brush really does work better!