How to restore and refinish brass plaques!

Brass Engineers plaque restoration oil circuit breaker from the British Thompson Houston co ltd gets restored I found this solid brass plaque at a car boot sale for the sum of £5.00 looks like it had been prised from a scrap transformer most probably a railway relic from the 1950s era
.First step was to heat up the plaque to try and straighten it out, i tried jumping on after sandwiching it between two wood block, i then use a blowtorch to soften it enough to hit it with a nylon mallet .after a general wire brushing to remove the bitumasic paint i gave it a clean with wire wool to reveal some very fine details these wer essential for any engineer to identify just exactly what they are dealing with when carrying out routine maintenance.next i give the brass a good polish with brasso and then with a fine wire brush removes the last of the stubborn debris before respaying with blue hammerite enamel paint, a couple of good coats of the enamel spray fills the background detail.Next sanding the rust encrusted rear of the plaque eventually reveals some shine and interestingly some serial numbers stamped deep int the brass.with some sandpaper i removed the blue paint from the raised lettering to reveal the essential engineers data, a final polish and tidy made this a very satisfying worthwhile rescue project.
Thanks for watching .

[@lardy70s]

This is from a time when things were built to last. All you would get now is a shitty self adhesive label that would peel off in no time. Brilliant video and tremendous effort

[@Instone09ine]

Thank you 😊

[@lardy70s]

@@Instone09ine you're more than welcome. I work for a very large defence company that had a factory that was open from 1916 to 2012. As you can imagine, there is quite a lot of history associated with the company and it's employees. When we moved to our new factory, my job was to remove various signs and plaques from the old site and fit them to a wall in the new factory. We affectionately call this wall/area memory lane. Your video reminds me of a brass plaque that was made in tribute to an employee who was tragically killed in an accident in 1940. This plaque is now blue due to age and exposure. Unfortunately it seems rather dull and unnoticed. I would like to restore this plaque as a fitting tribute to this employee and his family 80 years since his death. If I don't do this, nobody will. Thanks again.

[@Instone09ine]

@@lardy70s It says a lot about your good character that you care for the poor guys memorial like that! well done.

[@lardy70s]

@@Instone09ine Thanks for you kind words. If I do get a chance to do this I'll send you a clip of a before and after video.

[@lardy70s]

@@Instone09ine I have restored this plaque as promised. Thanks for your inspiration. R.I.P Mr Walstow. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpy9fY2Kra5oo7c

[@uktony1525]

Love the scotchbrite and microfiber cloth tricks. Came out beautifully.

[@MrTilsner]

Back from the dead, nicely done.

[@Instone09ine]

Thank you very much 🤙

[@Cloxhibition]

for the back try this; take some talcum add a similar amount of citric acid to it, now add some water to the mixture to the paste. Immerse the pate in hot boiling water for ten minutes, use a tweezer and remove it while it is hot and rub the paste on it, leave for 20 seconds then rub off and see the effect. You'll get the original brass look

[@Instone09ine]

Great tip Francis, thanks for that one😊

[@shamirgu]

Excellent!. Thanks for sharing. What I can use to restore FD connections. or Siamess Connection for the fire department. This brass has been around for a while. I am a superintendent for a commecial building in NYC. Thanks in advance.

[@Instone09ine]

Hi thanks Shamir are the fd connections a rough cast brass? I had a quick look at a few pics, was thinking maybe a tooth brush with brasso ?

[@dwderp]

For those trying this at home, be very mindful that mechanical sanding devices can completely obliterate lightly stamped numbers and letters in seconds. It is far better to remove the bulk of the wet paint from the lettering and stamping areas with a small rubber squeegee. What little remains of the paint is usually easily removed by polishing, without any sanding being necessary.

[@aggie8534]

this was so satisfying

[@Instone09ine]

Thanks Aggie 😉

[@JKLProjects]

Great video and great carboot find 👍

[@Instone09ine]

Thanks . I'm missing car boots!

[@orangeorchid9067]

Very nice! Very satisfying to watch!

[@Instone09ine]

Thank you very much😊

[@patg4924]

Awesome job 👌

[@Instone09ine]

Thank you Pat ! Cheers!

[@RestorationAustralia]

Nicely done.

[@gaynorhefford2753]

Brilliant shared xx

[@michaeltreadwell777]

WOW, looks lovely :-)

[@Instone09ine]

Thank you! Cheers Michael😊

[@mack1609]

Nice. Well done

[@Instone09ine]

Thank you Mack😊

[@whiteelephantvideos1343]

I would be afraid of using heat because of the possibility of metal deformation and Brass being such a soft metal I wouldn't use sandpaper or steel wool for Fears scratching it I often clean antique brass fan blades and find that just soaking the brass in Brasso without rubbing or sanding it will clean up just fine

[@Instone09ine]

Thank yu for the tips Michael 😊