I use beeswax for lubricating the dark slides...just run the edge of the slide through a block lightly...about 1/8" is all that needs to get wax on it...and just a tiny bit of wax ends up on the dark slides. I find that if I do this once a year I never have dark slide sticking problems.
For external cleaning (the parts that aren't near the film) I generally just use an old t-shirt and some spray cleaner (Fantastic, or something like that). I spray a small amount on the t-shirt and then use elbow grease to get the outsides clean.
For recently acquired film holders, I have a ritual of cleaning out the gunk that's usually accumulated in the hard to reach places that I don't want to use a lot of chemicals on. I use wooden matches...I fray the bare end and then run it under the film guides, exerting as much pressure as I feel I can do without bending the film guide or snapping off the match. (Practice makes perfect...I broke dozens of matches before I got the right pressure...but you can always clean up the bits of wood.) Just don't bend the film guides or you'll have to bend them back. I'll run the wooden matches down the film channel, one after another, until they come out clean. If you're a pipe smoker, pipe cleaners bent in half can also be used, although the matches will get the worst of the gunk out more easily. The pipe cleaner method is a nice follow up after you've got clean matches coming out.
I also use an old, well cleaned, soft toothbrush for getting into the corners of the film holder. Work slowly and carefully, and you can loosen up decades worth of gunk.
After I've cleaned out all of the hard to reach places, I give the holder a good going over with air. I used to use a can of compressed air, but now I just use a big hand bulb that I acquired. It takes a while, but eventually you can shift all of the gunk that you loosened up in the previous steps. Not all of it will come off of the film holder, but you can get it all out in the open.
Next, paper towels that have been soaked and then wrung out until they're just barely wet...go over everything in site. Use a lot of paper towels, a few at a time. When you've swiped across the film holder, turn the towel over for a 2nd pass and then throw it away. It's cheap insurance. Keep doing this until the paper towels come up clean every time. Do the same for the two sides of the dark slide where they contact the film...the tops that don't touch the film should have been done with the Fantastic earlier.
Now let the whole film holder dry on its own. (If you used too much water, you'll probably want to wipe the film holder down...I'd recommend a clean microfiber cloth for this to avoid adding more lint to the holder.) This is generally just a few minutes if your paper towels were barely wet.
Finally, I have a Kinetronics anti-static brush that I run over the entire inside of the film holder and over both sides of the dark slides. (When I've finished this I'll use the beeswax on the edges of the dark slides.) Just don't use the anti-static brush until everything's dry...otherwise it won't work well and you might end up leaving a lot of dust behind.
If you've done all of this correctly, you'll have a film holder that's free of the gunk of decades of neglect, and that will work well for you. I also replace the tape on the bottom of the film holders at this point (I use bellows tape), as the original tape's usually not in great shape.
And then, slip the entire film holder into a plastic baggie with some sort of seal on it. Some people use anti-static bags for this...and I'm sure they have even fewer dust problems than I do. But to be honest, dust hasn't been a problem for me with my film holders since I've used this routine.
This is something that I generally do while I watch the TV or listen to the radio...it doesn't take a lot of attention and it gets boring fast if you just sit there doing it without some distraction added. (I've had great conversations while I was doing this...it really takes almost no mental power after you do the first one or two.)
Of all of the steps that I take, the two that I recommend you exercise some care with until you've got some experience are cleaning under the film guides and applying the beeswax to the dark slide. In the first, it's easy to become too vigorous and end up breaking the match (which makes more of a mess to be cleaned up), or bending the film guide if you haven't sufficiently frayed the end of the match. A few passes will teach you all you need to know about this step. As to the beeswax, just remember that it takes so little to work effectively that if you can see it, you've probably got too much on the darkslide. It can easily be removed by running your fingers over it, but then you have wax on your fingers and probably will want to clean them before working with your film holders. A paper towel can take the wax off but that'll leave lint if you're not careful.
One thing that many people have mentioned, and that I will add to my routine in the future, is a small vaccuum. There are plenty of these out there...you see them quite often being sold to people as keyboard cleaners for their computers...such a device would make cleaning all of the gunk off easier than the air bulb method that I currently use.
I only do this full routine when I acquire used holders. I try to keep my film holders sealed in plastic when I store then, and I find that a once-over with the anti-static brush is all that I need to clean them between uses.
I hope there's some useful information here for you. Best of luck.
Dave
