04/08/2026
New equipment, new skills 📚
Our colleagues in Lincoln Conservation recently secured funding to buy a conservation grade laser cleaning unit, and invited our lecturers and technicians to join them in their training session so that the equipment can be shared for research.
Lasers clean using targeted pulses of light at single wavelengths. As these wavelengths are outside of the visible light spectrum they can be harmful to the eyes and skin, so we first learned how to use the Nd:YAG and Er:YAG handsets safely and responsibly, including using the correct filtering glasses, as well as how to set up the work area safely to avoid the lasers being reflected or passing through glass, and using close extraction to remove the dirt being dislodged by the laser.
We then learned how to set up the equipment and adjust its settings for the most effective cleaning on different materials and surfaces such as ceramic, stone, metal, paintings on canvas, and even silk. Swipe through to see some cleaning in action, and some of our results.
We also discovered how laser cleaning aligns with key conservation principles such as minimal intervention, including how to tell when the laser begins to damage original historic material, and how to calculate the optimal cleaning parameters.
It was a fascinating and very informative day, and we're excited to have been able to add the laser to our tool kit. Many thanks to Martin of Lynton Lasers for supplying the equipment and delivering the training.
