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Take Care of Your Gear - Clean Your Optics
Working with the Outdoorsmans optics trade-in program for the past couple of years, I have seen high-end binoculars in every kind of shape imaginable. I loved cutting open a box to see a dusty pair of Swarovskis that had turned a whole new shade of green from some dude’s hand grease. I always knew those binos had some soul, they had probably seen some cool stuff, and there was plenty of life left in them.
While it may seem like those would be hard to sell, that isn’t really the case. In order to prepare them for sale, our General Manager, Josh, developed a routine to get those binoculars to nearly “mint” condition with relative ease. Below are the steps we follow to get our glass back to like-new condition even after the dustiest or dirtiest of hunts.
- Use a coarse brush soaked in isopropyl alcohol to scrub the armoring of the binoculars. You can spray the isopropyl alcohol directly onto the armor, as well. If you’re cleaning a high-end (waterproof) binocular, you can actually rinse the binocular right under your faucet. Repeat until the armor is completely grime-free.
- Take a Q-tip wrapped in a microfiber cloth, again soaked in isopropyl alcohol, and scrub/scrape any tight crevices and/or corners of the bino to remove tough-to-reach dirt.
- Remove the eyecups from the binocular and scrub all the areas where the eyecups seat in the binocular. This area collects a lot of dust and dirt. Also, wipe off the eyecups themselves with an isopropyl-soaked microfiber cloth. Wipe all exposed surfaces to remove any grit that may have accumulated while working the eyecups in and out.
- Use a soft lens brush (a local camera shop will have these for a few bucks) along with compressed air to knock any dust loose from the glass itself.
- Prep TWO new microfiber or lens cloths, one with a good spray of isopropyl alcohol and one dry.
- Apply the wet cloth to the lens and wipe in a circular motion. The key here is to rotate the cloth while you're wiping to ensure that you never wipe the glass twice with a dirty section.
- Use the dry cloth to “buff” the now-clean glass. Repeat this on all four lenses.
- Screw your eyecups back in and you’re ready to rock with a fresh, clean optic. For spotting scopes, use the same process.
