>I'm using an assortment of brass brushes from the Borg to clean the rough casting. It's cleaning up nicely; I wouldn't say shining but I'm clearly removing the oxidation, if that's the correct word.
But what happens 6 months from now? Will it have reverted to what it looked like when I first received it today? Or is there a sealant of some sort that should be used?
Paul has said he uses a patinating product called 'Jax; Brown' to get an authentic antique color. I've called the home office of the mfr., Gromet, and they gave me 4 distributors in Illinois. But none of them are keen on shipping a hazmat product. What are others doing for patinating your plane? Tia, Tom.
Wayne mentioned to me to perhaps leave it the way it is and simply polish the high points. So I am going to see what that's like.
Whether I leave it like that I'll figure out this weekend. But I do like that color of the recessed areas. Regardless, I'll probably just wax it up really good afterwards and call it a day.
>Here are a few shots of my plane as of yesterday. I had a long talk with Paul on the phone and he suggested shining up as much of the metal as possible, so I tried to get into all the nooks and crannies. There are still several places I have yet to reach with the implements and devices I'm using. I started with files -- very fine flat and oval files -- for the flat and gently curved surfaces. Then I went to the borg and bought a few packs of assorted Dremel sanding wheels, which are soft, fluffy little abrasive buffs, impregnated with various grits of abrasive (180, 220 and 320). They wear fairly quickly, but they're great for shining up the details in the castings. I also used them to go over the filed surfaces to take the gleam off and leave a nice bright but diffuse surface.
Next, I had planned to use the stuff Paul mentioned, the Jax Brown, but I didn't know it was hazardous. I've never been too worried about such things before, so I may still go ahead with this plan. Supposedly, you soak the whole plane in this liquid, and then, after it dries, you re-shine the highlights, leaving the rich brown in the negative areas and little pinholes that give texture to the tote and fence. After that, Paul seals everything with silicon spray.
I also considered something a lot lower tech than that: some kind of glaze. I don't know why you couldn't brush on some brown glazing paint/stain and just wipe off the excess. Then, when it dries, finish it off with a wiped coat of Waterlox. This would be a lot easier because you wouldn't have to re-buff the highlights. I'd like to hear yeas or nays to this approach.
>If it were me I probably woud go with the Jax Brown. It sounds like there is a chemical reaction with it that oxidizes the surface to give it color. I then would put a wax on top, I don't want to transfer silicone to my work from my tools. I think your idea of glaze would probably work fine. My only concern would be how well the glaze and waterlox would adhere to the bronze. Would the waterlox be prone to chipping?
Your plane looks great, I want to see some shavings from it.
>I am also still wondering about the patina because my plane looks pretty good without it. My buddies over on the metalworking site strongly recommend a human waste product for bronze patination. Sounds pretty crude to me, but they say it is the best.
There is no inherent reason against using a gell stain, though I would opt for a paste wax rather than waterlox. wax will allow the bronze to age gracefully rather than showing chips and scratches. also the wax will aloww periodic pollisihg if desired.
In the world of patination there are transparent patinas and there are opaqe patinas. Most of the browns tend to be transparent, greens opaqe and blacks can be either. This may sound like a trivial thing but by being transparent the condition of the underlying metal comes into play. if the metal is bead blasted it will be matt and won't reflect the light. if the metal is shined up to some extent it will reflect the light. using the same chemical on the same casting with some areas prepared diferently will yeild a wide range of colors.
To remove the patina from the high areas an efective method is to put some fine sand in a bucket and add enough water to just cover the sand. use a scotch brite pad to scoop up some sand and scrub the casting. you can also prepare a casting for patination using the same tecnique. of course a plain scotch brite will also remove a patina.
to add a greater depth to a patina try the above wet sand/scotch brite process and then repatina the casting and the second time remove with a plain scotch brite or with 0000 steel wool. this will have a similar effect to using a glaze on a piece of furniture to add depth. the twice patinaed areas will be darker than the once patinaed areas.
You have done a beautiful job chaseing the casting. As evidenced by the cost diference in the kit vs a finshed plane you now know much hand work is involved in bronze casting. just like with furniture it is the final finishing phase that is most visable and can make or break a piece.
>Nice work on the knob, Ellis. So you made some kind of a jig to hold it in a lathe chuck. I'll do the same; a nice oil finish and wet sanding right up to 2000 grit paper should make it lood great.
What do you think about using Mylands Dark Brown Wax that's commonly available in lieu of Jax Brown?
>... was a matter of chucking a piece of scrap in a scroll chuck, then drilling a hole in it to hold the brass tubing of the knob assembly.
Regarding wax as a patina, I think I'm convinced (say what?) that nothing short of a chemical patina will be worthy of this project. My musings about glazes and varnishes and such aren't realistic. I'm still curious as to whether wax over the patina'd and burnished surfaces is the right way to go. I suspect it is, but I've had trouble with ordinary paste wax on stuff with texture. If wax is to be it, maybe Mylands or another brown wax would do the trick. Here again, it will probably be worth experimenting on just a small area before committing to anything.
>By appling the wax with a soft brush on a slightly warmed casting it is easier to avoid those little white dots that can build up in textured areas. Hot waxing is pretty much standard at art foundries because it is faster and yeilds better results.
pigmented wax has a long and storied tradition in bronze casting. before silicon bronze became the standand the common alloy used was red brass which was 85/3/5 or 85% copper and 5% lead,5% tin ,5% zinc. as many can guess the lead,tin, and zinc all have significantly lower melting temperatures and at he higher temp required to melt the copper they can cause small pin holes in a casting. in utilitarian things such as cannons this was not a problem. for sculptural items it was very undesirable to present a bust of your patron with a pockmarked face. even with modern welding equipment red brass is dificult to weld without adding more pin holes so the common solution was to fill these small holes with pigmented bees wax. on the rare ocasion that a casting didn't require any wax repairs it was said to be sine (without) cera (wax) this is the origin of the term sincerly. some sources tribute this term to marble scuptures but having worked with red brass and with stone it is much more common for a bronze casting to require wax for repair than stone. so nex time you sign a letter you are really saying...
