Cleaning painted boxes

Hello,

That can be a tough call, depending on the box and the adhesive that you're trying to get rid of.

I haven't found anything that will leave one with a perfectly pristine surface afterwards, but I've had somewhat fair luck with some of those types of situations.
I've come to regard some of those types of imperfections as just being part of the character of the box, though, choosing to deal with some imperfections in boxes or not on a case by case basis.

The citrus-oil Goo Gone stuff, to me, stinks to high heavens and also, with it being an oil-based product, it'll soak into and permanently stain most cigar box paper coverings, and also prevent any finishing products, if their use is desired, from adhering to the box.
Did I mention the stink?
Yeah, I did.
The stink of that stuff will never go away.

Plain old lighter fluid, gently applied, can work.
It has the potential to take some color off the box that you might not want to lose, and leave some staining, too, though.

I've used lighter fluid to remove decades-old electrical tape and masking tape from the ends of vintage boxes in which someone had stored screws, nails, or whatever in some old boxes for the last 80 to 100 years and had felt the need to label the contents of the box or tape a sample of the screw or nail type being therein stored.

I've positioned those ends of those boxes as the tail end of the CBG, where they're barely noticed..
After cleaning the tape off as well as I could, I've unleashed my inner artist and have done some touchup artwork using colored fine point felt pens, thereby making the offending area to then be barely noticeable.

As my wife likes to say, "You'll never see it from a galloping horse", meaning of course, that unless you look closely at it, you'll never notice it.

Goof Off paint remover is strong, pretty quick-acting stuff, but it'll quickly start eating into a lot of stuff that you might not want it to.

I've found that if offending imperfections on boxes are located at the tail end of the box or on the side that faces the floor when I'm playing them, I just leave them alone and since I don't see them when I'm playing the CBG, and they're not blatantly apparent when the CBG is just sitting there looking pretty, they seem to not bother me, and I'm usually as picky as can be about that sort of stuff.

That sort of tape and adhesive stuff on a box top is a bit more noticeable, though, and attempts at removing it will probably look worse than leaving it alone.

Someone else out in CBG-land might have better ideas than I do.
I'd love to hear about them if they do.

P.S. - I almost forgot.
Stickers - Adhesive stickers, advertising anything from Ernie Ball strings or C.B. Gitty or your local music shop, that might adequately cover an unsightly wound or ugly adhesive on a box could be a last resort.
I've yet to resort to that, but I do have a supply of stickers that I've acquired over the years just in case.

Good luck to you!

Replies

Taffy Evans January 11, 2025 at 7:30pm

Hi White Raven, I suspect you would have tried something by now, how did it go? Share your findings it will help others.

Cheers Taff
Bob Herget January 11, 2025 at 5:01pm

Hello,

That can be a tough call, depending on the box and the adhesive that you're trying to get rid of.

I haven't found anything that will leave one with a perfectly pristine surface afterwards, but I've had somewhat fair luck with some of those types of situations.
I've come to regard some of those types of imperfections as just being part of the character of the box, though, choosing to deal with some imperfections in boxes or not on a case by case basis.

The citrus-oil Goo Gone stuff, to me, stinks to high heavens and also, with it being an oil-based product, it'll soak into and permanently stain most cigar box paper coverings, and also prevent any finishing products, if their use is desired, from adhering to the box.
Did I mention the stink?
Yeah, I did.
The stink of that stuff will never go away.

Plain old lighter fluid, gently applied, can work.
It has the potential to take some color off the box that you might not want to lose, and leave some staining, too, though.

I've used lighter fluid to remove decades-old electrical tape and masking tape from the ends of vintage boxes in which someone had stored screws, nails, or whatever in some old boxes for the last 80 to 100 years and had felt the need to label the contents of the box or tape a sample of the screw or nail type being therein stored.

I've positioned those ends of those boxes as the tail end of the CBG, where they're barely noticed..
After cleaning the tape off as well as I could, I've unleashed my inner artist and have done some touchup artwork using colored fine point felt pens, thereby making the offending area to then be barely noticeable.

As my wife likes to say, "You'll never see it from a galloping horse", meaning of course, that unless you look closely at it, you'll never notice it.

Goof Off paint remover is strong, pretty quick-acting stuff, but it'll quickly start eating into a lot of stuff that you might not want it to.

I've found that if offending imperfections on boxes are located at the tail end of the box or on the side that faces the floor when I'm playing them, I just leave them alone and since I don't see them when I'm playing the CBG, and they're not blatantly apparent when the CBG is just sitting there looking pretty, they seem to not bother me, and I'm usually as picky as can be about that sort of stuff.

That sort of tape and adhesive stuff on a box top is a bit more noticeable, though, and attempts at removing it will probably look worse than leaving it alone.

Someone else out in CBG-land might have better ideas than I do.
I'd love to hear about them if they do.

P.S. - I almost forgot.
Stickers - Adhesive stickers, advertising anything from Ernie Ball strings or C.B. Gitty or your local music shop, that might adequately cover an unsightly wound or ugly adhesive on a box could be a last resort.
I've yet to resort to that, but I do have a supply of stickers that I've acquired over the years just in case.

Good luck to you!
Taffy Evans November 7, 2024 at 1:56am

Hi WR, what about trying one of those Goo Remover products. Might work, I'd try it on somewhere or on something unimportant.

good luck Taff

This reply was deleted.