Interesting recipe, using spices as coloring, hard core wood working stores would probably have aniline dyesOriginally Posted by Pete Watkins
that could be substituted. Some lens boards that I made from mahogany I just used blond dewaxed shellac flakes
they look pretty good without staining. What is the process since you don't mention any heating ?
The one expensive ingredient that stood out to me was the Saffron. 1/2 OZ would be between $30-$80.
Garrett
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And the rest - Tesco supermarket here flog saffron at £2.50 for half a gram... so seventy quid.
I have a Sanderson Junior from the turn of the last century which has never been touched except to use; the external covering is black leather with black-painted brass fittings. The internal brass is lacquered, I think; there's no dulling even on things like the the reflex viewfinder. Amazingly, the spirit level (it's important to keep your spirits level) still has a bubble. The woodwork appears to be brass, again in very good condition. I'm not sure whether it's a polish or varnish, though.
Neil
Depends where you buy your Saffron it's very cheap in Turkey. Actually Tumeric and Saffron are used to colour foods as well as give flavour.
I use the pigment inks for my Epson printer to colour french polish, you need very little, however I'll try Pete's recipe at some stage as O know he worked in the trade in his youth.
Pete did mention warming the brass work earlier in the thread. The purer the alcohol the quicker it dries, I use meths here in the UK and look for bottles where the purple dye has faded, I leave bottles in sunlight for months to get the sun to bleach out the dye or filter through charcoal. In Turkey the chemists (drug-store) sold me 100% Ethanol and that's great for french polish but for hot lacquering would dry too fast.
Ian
Wow! Every time I log on to this site there are more posts! Thank you to you all for your comments (and recipes) as they really are appreciated. I will single out SteveK (LabRat) here for his sound advice. Yes Steve, you're absolutely right. I've been diving into this like I'm trying to produce a new camera - which was never what I originally intended. I'll back-pedal a bit, and get it working. It needs a thorough clean as much as anything - it feels 'sticky' when you touch it (yuch!) and one of the locking catches on the swing front had jammed up, and its lever had snapped off. I'll get a local hobbyist to machine a replacement. Couple that with the fact that whoever fitted the shutter drilled holes for the rubber tube and flash synch wires through not only the lens board, but the bottom of the front standard (is that right? The frame that the lens board fits in) as well! So no movement whatsoever! It seems there's still plenty of work for me to do, but thanks for helping me to focus (pun not intended...)
Roger
I did make and use that lacquer formula years ago. The spices are just for colour so I might not have used much saffron (if any at those prices). Heating the brass before applying the lacquer makes the stuff stick to the brass, it lasts for years if applied well. I saw a clock that had been in Eastleigh Locomotive Works for 50 years and the lacquer was perfect.
Brass can get a green stuff on it, it's called Verdigrease (probably spelt wrongly), this is best killed off by putting the brass parts into an OLD saucepan containing hot water that has had soft soap and ammonia stirred into it. It will stink! Leave the brass overnight then either scrub it with pumice powder using a bristle brush (getting the powder wet is not a problem) or let the brass dry and scrub it with emery powder mixed with thinnish (multigrade) oil. Wash the brass in gasoline / petrol if you use the emery and oil method and allow it to dry before applying lacquer. This is, needless to say, a horrible messy process. The brass can be polished or grained before lacquering. A grained effect can easily be obtained using a nylon scouring pad.
Pete.
I have used a vibratory polisher for years and found it excellent because it gets into the small, tight areas such as the knurled part of knobs. For seriously caked tarnish, the ammonia bath mentioned by Pete Watkins is a good approach. Vinegar works, too. But not both together!
I'll agree that old lacquer was put on very well. I have a couple of 1863 Dallmeyers with original varnish, just as shiny and perfect as the day they were made. Interestingly, other makers, like the American radial drive companies, had much thinner or less robust varnish. You'll hardly ever find original varnish on those.
Garrett
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Odd day for it, cause I've been selling some industrial scale polishing equip this morning, and it always involves a lot of questions about this n' that first, because
there are so many possibilities, both material-wise and the best way to do it. With some of these older brass knobs etc, one has to differentiate between shellacs,
true old-school lacquers or varnishes, and nitrocellulose lacquers which started showing up early 20th C and are inherently fragile.
Garret, we knew what we were doin' over 'ere ;-))
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