Apologies in order.
This Blog hasn't been very active for a while, well pretty much ignored really. There have been a few reasons for this, but I'm hoping to have it back on track soon.
If there is anything you would like covered, please get in touch.
Take care,
D
Thursday, 29 May 2014
Tips and tricks
O.K., right where do I start this one? There are many little bits of information, tips, tricks and techniques that you pick up over the years that make life in this trade just a little easier. Many of these aren't in any published texts or they are scattered far and wide.
I hoping I can share a few random bits now and a few more as we go along. The things I take for granted were recently highlighted by a friends need. This post will deal with watches and clocks in particular but there are more to come. Please understand that many of these processes use chemicals and acids. ALWAYS read the warnings on any chemicals and stick to them! Warnings are there for a reason.
How do you change the colour of a screw or fixing to blend with existing screws or fixings?
If you are using brass, copper or silver fittings and need to darken them down you can use "Liver of sulphur" or Pottasium Sulphide as it is more correctly known. This is often supplied as "rocks" that can be used as they are, simply place an item to be coloured in an sealed container with a few "rocks" this will induce a light "tarnish" and may take some time. If the "rocks" as dissolved in water things speed up a bit and the colour can get much darker. To make things black use it with hot water and the process is very quick. Make sure that parts are rinsed off thoroughly or the process will continue. If you mess it up and need to start again, polish it off with tripoli and rouge, put it in a silver cleaning solution and start again.
Steel: Steel has been traditionally "blued" for along time. This involves placing parts in a crucible with bluing salts and heating. More often steel screws and other parts have aged and turned almost black. This effect can reproduced by imersing the part to be coloured in warm safety pickle or Sulphuric Acid. The metal will start to fizz, take it out rinse well and check the finish if it needs to be darker, repeat the process. Take care with this as it is an etching process and is much more difficult to reverse. If possible try not to treat screw threads and don't put springs or bearings in as it weakens springs and corrodes bearing surfaces.
Just a quick one.
Take care,
I hoping I can share a few random bits now and a few more as we go along. The things I take for granted were recently highlighted by a friends need. This post will deal with watches and clocks in particular but there are more to come. Please understand that many of these processes use chemicals and acids. ALWAYS read the warnings on any chemicals and stick to them! Warnings are there for a reason.
How do you change the colour of a screw or fixing to blend with existing screws or fixings?
If you are using brass, copper or silver fittings and need to darken them down you can use "Liver of sulphur" or Pottasium Sulphide as it is more correctly known. This is often supplied as "rocks" that can be used as they are, simply place an item to be coloured in an sealed container with a few "rocks" this will induce a light "tarnish" and may take some time. If the "rocks" as dissolved in water things speed up a bit and the colour can get much darker. To make things black use it with hot water and the process is very quick. Make sure that parts are rinsed off thoroughly or the process will continue. If you mess it up and need to start again, polish it off with tripoli and rouge, put it in a silver cleaning solution and start again.
Steel: Steel has been traditionally "blued" for along time. This involves placing parts in a crucible with bluing salts and heating. More often steel screws and other parts have aged and turned almost black. This effect can reproduced by imersing the part to be coloured in warm safety pickle or Sulphuric Acid. The metal will start to fizz, take it out rinse well and check the finish if it needs to be darker, repeat the process. Take care with this as it is an etching process and is much more difficult to reverse. If possible try not to treat screw threads and don't put springs or bearings in as it weakens springs and corrodes bearing surfaces.
Just a quick one.
Take care,
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