Antique Brass Bell Restoration
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
- Restoring an antique brass bell I picked up on eBay. I don't know what it was coated with, but it took some serious polishing to bring it back to life!
Not the most complicated restoration ever I know, the idea here was for me to get the hang of doing videos - camera angles etc. This is my first TH-cam video, hopefully of many more to come.
I hope you enjoy it regardless!
I don't claim to be any sort of expert, so any constructive criticism is welcomed. I'm always eager to learn and improve.
This was insanely satisfying. I loved that you included what didn’t work. And the sped up with sandpapery sounds is my new sleep asmr.
Thank you! I appreciate the comment. Those sped up sounds are nicely soothing, aren't they? 🙂
If you found that insanely satisfying lol come on over I have a box full of brass bells and candlestick holders.... for you to have a blast with lol
To polish inside things like this, Get a length of hardwood dowel and cut a slot about an inch and a half (or 40mm ) down the centre. Then you can wrap wet and dry paper or soft cloth around the end and spin it with your electric drill! I have done this innumerable times over the years!! Lovely little bell restoration.
Much improved👍👍
Thanks a lot 😊
I believe it is a Servant’s Bell / Door Bell Pull Bell - I was blessed to have come upon a set of three recently - graded in size of bell and still with the springs attached where they go up on the wall . The size grading enables each bell to give a different ring so the servant could quickly identify which room / door needed to be attended . The bell in this video was identical to mine even down to the oddly shaped donger. Well done with polishing it looks great - hope you can do mine !!!!!!!!
Thanks for sharing! I'd figured it was either a servant's bell like you say, or one of those shop doorway ones. Without any of the attachments, it's really just guesswork!
Gee I guess it's nice to have all of those tools, and a workshop. But, not all of us do. However, this was rather interesting to watch, and I like the way it came out. The lack of perfection, makes it for collection. It's a nice piece!
Yes, my workshop is fairly tiny but I'm glad to have it! Thank you!
Nice! It came out nice. I liked the part where you went to the wire wheel on the bench grinder. I had to finish watching after that.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
Ketchup is good for this material! 🙂
Make the brass shine again 😊
Nice and beautiful item.
Thank you!
The spring metal bracket that had snapped off suggests it was a shop bell 🧡
Yes, either that or a servant's bell. I've seen that spring arrangement on both systems. As much as I've tried, I've never been able to definitively pin down what it was originally used for.
How does he manage to still have all his fingers
It's just a wire wheel - and a brass one at that. I wouldn't recommend sticking your fingers in one, but the occasional contact isn't actually that big a deal. Of all the power tools in my collection, the wire wheel is one of the most benign. It's never drawn blood.
The grinding wheel, on the other hand...
Very nice! Has a nice ring, and it wouldn't be very interesting if you made it 'perfect'!
Thanks! I try to keep a bit of character in restoration projects, otherwise why bother!
You could try plating any parts that can't be sprayed like the clapper. Cheapest and simplest would be zinc plate because it generally sticks well to most metals and you can harvest zinc from common zinc-carbon batteries.
That's a very good idea :) I've come a long way since I made this video and do a lot of plating now - but I wouldn't have thought about plating the clapper. The clapper is holding up well and not showing any other signs of rust so far, but I might think about that on my next plating batch. Thanks!
My mate has a lovely bell that rang for ages, he moved it to a different place, and now it just goes clunk, and not resonate for ages like it did.
The condition is much like this was. I'm guess a good clean will make it ring again. Assuming there's not any hidden cracks?
It could well be dirt that's causing it if it's really built up. But a bit of patina like on this one shouldn't affect it ringing too much. If it's really not chiming and resonating, then a crack is the more likely cause, unfortunately :(
That doesn't mean it can't still be a nicely decorative piece though!
@@OldtoNewRestorations Cheers, I'm gonna have a go at restoring it.
Awesome, let me know how it turns out!
Is your flex shaft attached to a bench grinder or to a multi-tool?
It's a Dremel (actually a knock-off; I think it's Clarke branded). Not much torque so it bogs down quite easily, but still a useful tool to have!
Adding a Wood Handle would be nice, great job
I considered this. I'm debating making a mounting bracket so I can hang it on the wall though :)
Nice job. Something you could try with rivets is to drill them out just short of the full diameter (in steps) and punch the rim into the centre and out.
Good tip, thanks!
@@OldtoNewRestorations at 7;08 what material have u used along with closed stitch mop
I give brass a quick clean with soap and water for any dirt, then let it soak in citric acid and water, all the tarnish just dissolves off. When people give random products that they use I’m pretty sure it’s just the citric acid in those products doing the work.
Then a soft toothbrush with polish to get into all the difficult areas, then buff with a rag. Very quick process.
I tried simply cleaning this, it didn't shift anything more than just a bit of dust.
I tend to agree with you about the citric acid - almost any cleaning product, natural or commercial, has some sort of acid/alkaline element to it that does the actual work. All the other ingredients are just there for texture, binding, scent, etc.
I've got a perfect test piece now and I'm going to be making a video comparing all these different methods :)
@@OldtoNewRestorations nice! I’ll make sure to check that out
Why so many negative comments???? I don't I understand. I thought it looked great
Thank you! :) I don't mind negative feedback; a lot of it is useful. But dealing with trolls is all part of putting videos online, unfortunately!
How do you tell the difference between a brass bell and a bronze bell? Isit true bronze rings out longer and has a better tone?
Bronze is generally more reddish than brass, which has a yellow tint to it.
I don't know about the tone when it comes to bells, but larger bells are usually made of bronze, which I guess is for a reason - bronze is the more expensive material too.
I have a cordless and variable speed Mikita drill and multiple polishing cotton attachments with rouge of several grits , which I advise. The bench grinder mops turn so fast the brass gets too hot and is scorched not to mention holding it like that is very risky. I don’t use wire brushes at all, they remove too much material. But it’s your bell, do what you want.
Thanks, but I've never had a problem with 'scorching' the brass. The trick is to keep things moving and not hold the part in one place for too long.
Someone did a video on here using only Tamarind to clean the brass, and within a Minute or so it was glowing.
No abrasives, scrubbing or ANYthing...it literally took the guck right off.
Tamarind? Interesting. I've heard of a few weird and wonderful ways of cleaning brass (ketchup works well, too!), but tamarind is a new one on me. I might have to give that a go some time!
I don't think that would have helped here though; whatever was on that bell wasn't just ordinary grime. It was rock hard and nothing short of abrasives even touched it!
Old to New Restorations
th-cam.com/video/jPqdyE3udiw/w-d-xo.html
Yeah, it took that lady only minutes to clean a dark brass vase. It almost looked fake😂it was so easy!
I’m going to get some tomorrow!
Salt and vinegar... tried and true, and Bill Nye tested. You do have fun toys, but...
Vinegar and salt is the best cleaner for brass.
Thanks! I'm planning a video going over different ways to clean brass, I just need to find something suitable as a test subject!
Vinegar & Salt, please explain! I have an old bugle I want to restore and need a decent brass cleaner before I start polishing.
Vinegar works well as a brass cleaner, mainly due to the acid content. In my experiments so far though, I don't think it's any better than the usual commercial cleaners out there (brasso, solvol etc).
If you're doing something like a bugle, you probably want something that's going to stick to the part, rather than something you have to immerse the part in. Sounds crazy, but ketchup may be worth a try! Just smear it on there, cover it in plastic wrap/cling film and leave it for a few hours before washing it off. It works surprisingly well if your bugle isn't in too bad condition.
@@OldtoNewRestorations thank you for that. I've just finished cleaning it... I used 'Barkeepers Friend' powder in water and it came up AWESOME in just a few minutes, all ready for buffing now!
Ketchup works in a pinch as well. :)
Great. Please put what sorts of polish you are using on the mops next time. I''m learning the hard way to restore paraffin heaters and the founts (tank) are brass. 😑 They all have different types of aging, the one I am working on now was covered with some horrible sticky, gungy nonsense that I got off with a dremel but it has scratched it a bit. So bought a polisher / grinder thingy. I have some bars of polish but not really sure what to use when since they arrived unlabelled. Videos likes this are very helpful though, thanks a bunch x
Yes, they never label them properly! If you do some web searching you should be able to get them into some order - they're usually commonly coloured so you can match them up that way.
@@OldtoNewRestorations Thanks x
wow!
👍
And once again a lovely job. I am into polishing brass, as I have over 200 brass weights, and think it would have been a lot easier if you had gone straight to liquid brasso and a 4 inch felt wheel on your bench polisher. Try and avoid sauce and anything with vinegar as the acetic brings out the copper and leaves the brass looking pink. To polish inside use a drill bit with many layers of string on it and use it with brasso taking care not to wear through the string.
That's a great tip! I did try cleaning it with brass cleaner first, but the scale was pretty bad. I'd have been there forever like that! I think I've come a long way since I made this video though. There's a lot to learn!
200+ weights, makes my collection seem tiny👍
at 7;08 what material have u used along with closed stitch mop
It's just a white polishing compound, quite a fine one used for final polishing. But I've found it works well on brass even for initial polishing.
Bolt the vise onto a block of wood
I've since mounted it to a cast iron bench top. But that's a great idea, something I plan to do when I next pick up a smaller vice.
It is bronze casting not brass , bells are made that way , they can't be highly polished .very nice to see the old bell being restored
Thanks, but it's definitely brass! These small Victorian bells were often cast in brass rather than bronze.
A buffing wheel would've made that shine like a pewter dollar in a mud puddle.
Yes, it certainly did! 👍
Ficou excelente. Obrigado pelo video amigo. Abraços do Brasil.
Obrigado! 👍
It came out nice, BTW it's not Victorian, it is much much much more modern than that, I have one like it, the only difference is mine is not missing the door mount bracket, Which BTW it is an older style doorbell lol You know before electronic door bells were a thing.
Thanks!
I'm not sure of the age (and we could argue about that all day; it's almost impossible to narrow it down), but I'd certainly put it not much later than 1920s or 30s. I've seen similar style bells set up as servant call systems in old houses of that era. It could also be a door bell - it could have been used for all kinds of things.
You should put your hair up when working around power tools and machines. I've seen guys get their hair ripped from their heads in seconds. You bending over your brass wheel and your hair hanging down, you should be more careful.
Very good point, and I usually do. I guess I was just feeling lazy that day!
That said, the video makes things look closer than it actually was, my hair was well clear of the wheel.
@@OldtoNewRestorations thats good. Video was good,was just worried about your safety! Keep up the good work!
Tommy....so right... I was drying my hair upside down to get it dried quickly using a friend's hair dryer {different to my own}....and Whump! A bit of my hair got caught in the fan and made more of my long hair get twisted into a thick rope within a second.
I had to actually cut it off at the point it entered the hairdryer.
When using machinery proper, I always make sure my hair is tied up out of the way.... the hairdryer lesson was a painful one.
It's like watching a mime.
Maybe next time I should just do the whole thing without the bell.
@@OldtoNewRestorations or with the bell and without tools!
Brasso or never dull would have worked well too
I tried brasso; it didn't touch it at all. Brasso's great for cleaning up dull brass, not so much for thick scale like this.
@@OldtoNewRestorations ahh ok
(2:34) That's a vise, not a vice. Quite a difference.
No, it's definitely a vice. At least in my part of the world 😉
grammarist.com/spelling/vice-vise/
@@OldtoNewRestorations Hmm. A Brit?
Guilty as charged!
English have Vices. Americans have Vises??
very nice video but I really would have sanded the whole bell with an electric sander inside and out
Thanks! Part of the bell is a mottled (sand casted) surface, I wanted to keep that. An electric sander would have been useful (at least to save some time!), but I think it came out alright otherwise 😊
You need to set your vise up where you can use it
Yes. Thanks for that advice.
Use a dremmel for inside work
Thanks for the tip!
Use a flapper sanding wheel
I actually wish I'd done that with the inside part, that would have saved me a lot of time!
Looks good but how do I do that with a 1200 lb. bell?
Same deal, bigger tools! 😋
Veeeeeery carefully!
You are very inexperienced. The grinder head was very obtrusive. All you needed to do was drill a small hole through the shaft and then a enlarge it as you go as not to cause any damage to the rest of the structure. And I would have protected and respected the mount piece also that you trashed.
There was no damage done or metal removed to the bell, so I don't understand your point?
Indian tip just soak it in lime juice or tamarind juice for one hour
I've heard the tamarind thing a few times now, I'm definitely going to try this soon! Thanks for the tip!
@@OldtoNewRestorations thanks for reply you are very humble man
@@OldtoNewRestorations love from Mumbai India be safe from covid 19 and try to help and feed people around you
@@MukeshKumar-ly7nf Likewise, keep yourself safe too. We can get through this!
HOW TO RUIN A BRONZE BELL BY A TOTAL AMATEUR
Your caps lock key is the one to the left of your 'A' key. You're welcome.
Wait explain yourself
I have an antique bell for sale
eBay's usually a good place for selling things like that.
@@OldtoNewRestorations thanks
My God bro. Have you not heard of metal polishing tumbler machines. They have all sorts of media that you can put in them including polishing abrasive soaps so that the item is not damaged at all and there is NO material removed. This is death by bombah your style.
Of course I have. And don't call me bro. 🙄
real lack of safety measures, at the least gloves when using the wire wheel !
I admit I'm not the best when it comes to safety at times, but gloves are a terrible idea when using a bench grinder. That's just asking them to get caught up and sucked into the machinery. I'll keep them off, thanks. The wire wheel isn't as dangerous as you seem to think, anyway.
@@OldtoNewRestorations Would you consider using ‘Finger Cots’ ? Just to prevent body salts and oils from the items being restored?
@@e.conboy4286 It's an interesting idea, not one I've seen before to be honest. I would normally do final polishing by hand and would use nitrile gloves. But I'll consider those for future projects. Thanks for the tip!
The Brasso messed it up.
How?
Recast is needed it's too rusty
Do you mean the clapper? It probably does ideally need recasting, but it rings just fine.
@@OldtoNewRestorations yes the clapper
There are times when a drill is better than a demel.
And there are times when a dremel is better than a drill. And times when they're equally good.
Definitely the wrong approach. Start with brass cleaning dip then use 0000 steel wool and then polishing compounds on felt wheels.
Why?
Another antique ruined. It’s a store door bell. I have a couple.
Good for you.
you will mess about with that vice for years, then one day you will need to bolt it down,when you use it you will wonder why you didnt bolt it years ago because it so simpler to use now
Actually I just brought it in from my workshop for this video. It was taken back out and bolted back down again the next day.
@@OldtoNewRestorations either way great video well done
Painful
Okay
I'm not happy with your effort , Poor Performance 😭 😅 , needs improvement .
Thanks! Don't forget to give it a thumbs down if you didn't like the video. 👎
I think you are too lazy and went on to grind that victorian bell too quickly, without even trying less harmful ways of cleaning it. Your work that I could see had made it looked scratched, even though it turned out shiny. you will never make a proper restoration person by the technic you have just show. Boiled in salt and white vinegar and left to cool down. then a paste of vinegar, salt, lemon and flour on top for a half hour would have brought it up like new. Even the pitted ball. Trust me I have had worse.
Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I think I was probably a little hasty, but that was more due to not having or knowing any other methods that worked (I did try a few other things off camera) than any laziness.
Since then I've gathered a few different methods of cleaning brass and as soon as I find a suitable subject I'll be trying them all and doing a comparison video 🙂
@@OldtoNewRestorations Been in the maritime industry 20 some odd years... I have seen people use hot sauce, mayonnaise, gatoraid, vinegar and so on. It all works. Mayo is a bit nastier to clean up though. I personally use hot sauce then follow up with a polish like brasso.
As far as how funky the bell is you are working with in the video.... I would have tried soaking it in something for a few hours first then started working on it with a stiff bristle brush to try and keep from deep scratching it. If that did not work, throw it away and tell the office to get us a new one 😉
Sometime you gotta break out the grinder to show them bells whos boss.
@@LordDeadSpider Hot sauce? Another new one for me! 😃 I'm keeping an eye out for a suitable test subject, then I'm planning a video to compare all these techniques. I've learned a lot since I made this video, that's for sure.
I do still love my grinder though 😉