Heritage Floor Polisher
29 August 2014
It is tempting not to throw things away, whatever the size of your house, and the problem is worse if your house is big and has extensive cellars. Earlier this week, I was thinking about a bit of clearing out in the cellars when I came across the floor polisher shown in the image - I refer to the wooden device, not my daughter, who is seen trying to make it work.
It consists of a wooden box filled with lead and cloaked in material, which on investigation proved to be two layers of felt and then a roughly applied piece of old blanked, which perhaps experience in use had shown either to be easier to push and pull or more effective in doing the job. The device had survived quite well despite attention from woodworm and moth, though the moth had clearly given up at an early stage after finding the material too dirty.
I have cleaned and polished the lead-filled box and put the polisher for others to try in the Gothic Drawing Room, where there is a bit of exposed oak flooring. I have also made a Risk Assessment, as you must, and concluded that the risk of anyone injuring him or herself or damaging any pieces of furniture is low, but anyone who manages to move it more than twice will appreciate how hard the physical labour of cleaning used to be. At the same time, there is a chance that we will get our floor polished, in a small area, rather in the same way as those with safari parks have some of their animals fed by selling packets of feed to visitors to give out.
James H-B 29th August