Antique Brass Bell Restoration 

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

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!

Thank you!

Yes, my workshop is fairly tiny but I'm glad to have it! Thank you!

Thanks a lot 😊

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

Ketchup is good for this material! 🙂

Make the brass shine again 😊

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!

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...

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.

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.

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!

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!

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

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.

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.

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

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!

Thanks, but it's definitely brass! These small Victorian bells were often cast in brass rather than bronze.

Thanks! I try to keep a bit of character in restoration projects, otherwise why bother!

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👍

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 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jPqdyE3udiw.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...

Good tip, thanks!

@@OldtoNewRestorations at 7;08 what material have u used along with closed stitch mop

I considered this. I'm debating making a mounting bracket so I can hang it on the wall though :)

👍

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.

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.

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.

Yes, it certainly did! 👍

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??

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. :)

Obrigado! 👍

Yes. Thanks for that advice.

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 😊

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

Same deal, bigger tools! 😋

Veeeeeery carefully!

There was no damage done or metal removed to the bell, so I don't understand your point?

I actually wish I'd done that with the inside part, that would have saved me a lot of time!

Thanks for the tip!

Maybe next time I should just do the whole thing without the bell.

@@OldtoNewRestorations or with the bell and without tools!

Of course I have. And don't call me bro. 🙄

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!

eBay's usually a good place for selling things like that.

@@OldtoNewRestorations thanks

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!

Your caps lock key is the one to the left of your 'A' key. You're welcome.

Wait explain yourself

How?

Do you mean the clapper? It probably does ideally need recasting, but it rings just fine.

@@OldtoNewRestorations yes the clapper

Why?

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 😉

And there are times when a dremel is better than a drill. And times when they're equally good.

Thanks! Don't forget to give it a thumbs down if you didn't like the video. 👎

Good for you.

Okay

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