Restoration of a Tell 3

[45flint]

I just purchased a Tell 3 which was in good shape except for a cracked grip and one lost emblem. I made a clay empression of the emblem from the other side and used it as a cast. Here is a slideshow of the restoration. I would like to age the emblem a little with a patina of some sort, any thoughts about how to do that would be appreciated.

http://s168.photobucket.com/user/ski...%20Restoration

In a picture story : I kind of like this better than the slideshow?
http://s168.photobucket.com/user/ski...toration/story

[cinedux]

Just shows!Now,for you,there is something special about this pistol.trev

[ccdjg]

Great result and well worth the effort with such a rare pistol.

Can you provide any details about the casting process you used?

Thanks,
John

[micky2]

I just purchased a Tell 3 which was in good shape except for a cracked grip and one lost emblem. I made a clay empression of the emblem from the other side and used it as a cast. Here is a slideshow of the restoration. I would like to age the emblem a little with a patina of some sort, any thoughts about how to do that would be appreciated.

http://s168.photobucket.com/user/ski...%20Restoration

In a picture story : I kind of like this better than the slideshow?
http://s168.photobucket.com/user/ski...toration/story

Hi l would just rub it down with some very fine wet&dry sand paper to just take the shine off it. that will make look a bit older. and maybe rub some soil into it as well. but a nice job of doing the casting.

[45flint]

Great result and well worth the effort with such a rare pistol.

Can you provide any details about the casting process you used?

Thanks,
John

I hesitate to share my casting method cause I'm came at it with no real experience and I found my method very problematic. It only produced one useable emblem after 5 attempts, but that's all I needed. Lol. I went to the local hobby store and got modeling clay that would dry hard. I just made the clay casts by pushing it onto the grip, pulling it off and letting it dry for several days. It seemed to hold the detail pretty well. Luckily the Tell emblems are silver metal. I have worked with solder and just bought some used in plumbing. I also bought some flux. The problem I had in my experiments with just a spoon was the solder always had 'bubbles' on the surface it was never smooth. I thought the flux would help it flow. I rubbed the flux into the clay, heated it so it melted and whipped it off. It seemed to soak into the clay. I then heaped solder on top of the cast, melting it with a micro butane torch I have. I got a large bubble of molten solder above the emblem and then quickly pushed it down onto the cast with a flat knife. Held it there till it cooled. Like I said most all were failures. I had made four clay casts and used them all. I think they are only good for one attempt. There is probably a better casting metal than solder but I never really investigated.

[45flint]

Hi l would just rub it down with some very fine wet&dry sand paper to just take the shine off it. that will make look a bit older. and maybe rub some soil into it as well. but a nice job of doing the casting.

Thanks for your thoughts, since I only have one emblem I want to really think this aging process through. Will experiment on my screwed up attempts first. Just rubbing it with my fingers this morning has taken the shine off the paint which looks better.

[Abasmajor]

Congratulations on what looks like a really nice substitute for something I guess would be almost impossible to obtain.

A missing emblem really sticks out, so even without any attempt at ageing, it provides a significant improvement to the appearance.

Brian

[45flint]

What is cool, now my favorite side is the one I hated just two days ago. Adding valuing to a collectable in this class is very rewarding.

[ccdjg]

I hesitate to share my casting method cause I'm came at it with no real experience and I found my method very problematic. It only produced one useable emblem after 5 attempts, but that's all I needed. Lol. I went to the local hobby store and got modeling clay that would dry hard. I just made the clay casts by pushing it onto the grip, pulling it off and letting it dry for several days. It seemed to hold the detail pretty well. Luckily the Tell emblems are silver metal. I have worked with solder and just bought some used in plumbing. I also bought some flux. The problem I had in my experiments with just a spoon was the solder always had 'bubbles' on the surface it was never smooth. I thought the flux would help it flow. I rubbed the flux into the clay, heated it so it melted and whipped it off. It seemed to soak into the clay. I then heaped solder on top of the cast, melting it with a micro butane torch I have. I got a large bubble of molten solder above the emblem and then quickly pushed it down onto the cast with a flat knife. Held it there till it cooled. Like I said most all were failures. I had made four clay casts and used them all. I think they are only good for one attempt. There is probably a better casting metal than solder but I never really investigated.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us, very interesting. Who cares how many times you have to repeat a process to get it just right, if it works just once then it is worth all the effort

As you say, there is nothing as satisfying as restoring a damaged gun to as close to its original condition as possible, especially if that gun is rare - and as you have found, it can enable you to acquire rarities that would otherwise break the bank.

[45flint]

Hi l would just rub it down with some very fine wet&dry sand paper to just take the shine off it. that will make look a bit older. and maybe rub some soil into it as well. but a nice job of doing the casting.

You were right used some 600 grit paper on the letters just to take the shine off and it did make it look a little aged. Thanks much.

[micky2]

You were right used some 600 grit paper on the letters just to take the shine off and it did make it look a little aged. Thanks much.

Glad it worked, taking the shine off new things always makes them look aged.

[Lakey]

You can buy two part polyurethane casting resin on the net, and if you add very fine metal powder ( brass powder for example ) to the resin on mixing you can cast pieces in silicon rubber moulds with the look and feel of metal ( similar weight too ) You can even buff them up to a shine. Very effective method. Just Google "Polyurethane Casting Resin" for your nearest stockists - it mixes 50/50 by weight.

Lakey

[45flint]

You can buy two part polyurethane casting resin on the net, and if you add very fine metal powder ( brass powder for example ) to the resin on mixing you can cast pieces in silicon rubber moulds with the look and feel of metal ( similar weight too ) You can even buff them up to a shine. Very effective method. Just Google "Polyurethane Casting Resin" for your nearest stockists - it mixes 50/50 by weight.

Lakey

Probably a better way to go. One concern is you are casing over a emblem on the pistol that has old red paint. It is easy to pull off or effect that paint. I do like the idea that the emblem is cast metal as opposed to metal impregnated resin, but that is a head game I guess, it's all a substitute for the real thing.

I have UTubed this method and it certainly makes sense. Since many emblems are bronze, like the Haenel 28, it would be the only way I could make those and I have seen many of those missing.