Sealing in restored lettering

[maxzoran]

Good afternoon,

I have an Ever Ready I am working on and I restored the lettering using an oil crayon. What can I use to seal in the lettering without it being too obvious? The handle is black btw

[hig789]

I don't know about sealing in the crayon but if you used a some Testors enamel paint it is water resistant. But you could try some clear coat by brushing it on and wiping it off a few times while letting it dry in between coats. Not sure if either one would hold up very good against soaking everyday.

Pics?????

[Manning]

I have used clear coat (for autos) with a high rate of success. Holds up fine to daily soakings.

[maxzoran]

Here it is, I think it looks pretty cool with the orange and grey lettering. What do I need to do to get the pits out of the bottom?

[hig789]

Do you have a buffer?

[maxzoran]

Do you have a buffer?

I do not. I have a bench grinder, a dremel, or a belt sander

[whavens]

Throw a buffing wheel on your bench grinder.

[hig789]

Be VERY careful if you do that. Bench grinders spin way faster than a buffer does and will turn that pretty handle into pieces. I would use the dremel if I were you then you might not have to repaint the letters on the bottom. Use those little felt wheels for the dremel and go to lowes or harbor freight and get some buffing compounds. I use the black from HF and blue from lowes. Odd combo but it works. Make sure you switch wheels when you switch colors.

[Snargle]

That Rubberset is an amazing-looking brush! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product. Is it really as big as it looks in the photo? It looks huge!

[maxzoran]

Thanks! I think the pic makes it look a little off scale. It's actually pretty small (16mm knot...which are hard to find). Speaking of which, I've only been able to find a TGN Best that will fit this handle. Anyone have other sources? I really don't want to resize it

That Rubberset is an amazing-looking brush! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product. Is it really as big as it looks in the photo? It looks huge!

[Snargle]

Short of having a custom knot made (Shavemac, maybe?), I'm not aware of any other sources for knots of that size.

(I'd really be tempted to open that up to 18mm. 16mm is just too tiny for me,)

[maxzoran]

I thought about it, but I really like how it is coming out so I really don't want to take a chance on doing massive damage. I'm pretty new to the resto game

Short of having a custom knot made (Shavemac, maybe?), I'm not aware of any other sources for knots of that size.

(I'd really be tempted to open that up to 18mm. 16mm is just too tiny for me,)

[hig789]

If you have a dremel you can use the small sanding, which I think that large one would be too big to fit in the hole, and just slowly go around the hole and open it up. I would put some tape around the top hole first just in case. If the larger one will fit in there then use it, it will be easier to keep the hole round with it.

[willwhatyoudo]

Regarding the pitting on the bottom of the handle:

Depending upon how deep the pits are (and how patient you are), you could use wet/dry sandpaper to clean it up. I think this would be a bit safer than using a buffer. On a recent restore, I used 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper (found at the local auto shop), and gently removed some deep scratches. I kept the sandpaper wet. If you go this route, be sure to sand in 1 direction only (no circles!), otherwise, you'll end up with swirls that are a pain to remove (trust me, I did it). I then used an auto polishing compound (just some basic Meguiars that came in a detailing kit) to remove the sandpaper marks (rub across the marks left by the sandpaper) and return the shine.

Also, +1 to opening the knot hole up with a Dremel. I think that material would open up easily without too much risk of it breaking apart on you. But if you're really afraid of damaging it with a power tool, you could always do it by hand with sandpaper--I had to do this on an especially fragile handle.

[vferdman]

To take pits out I would use ONLY hand sanding techniques with progressively finer sand paper grits. Start with 400 and work your way up to 1000 SLOWLY! You may need to redo the lettering. After you are done with 1000 grit and don't feel like going higher, just buff it on a backside of piece of leather or suede. As far as sealing crayon, that's a loosing battle, IMO. I would find a nice enamel paint and, after practicing a lot, use that with a fine painting brush. If you clear coat, it will peel in time and look like it's recovering from a sunburn. Gorgeous handle, BTW.

--
VF

[malocchio]

Regarding the pitting on the bottom of the handle:

Depending upon how deep the pits are (and how patient you are), you could use wet/dry sandpaper to clean it up. I think this would be a bit safer than using a buffer. On a recent restore, I used 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper (found at the local auto shop), and gently removed some deep scratches. I kept the sandpaper wet. If you go this route, be sure to sand in 1 direction only (no circles!), otherwise, you'll end up with swirls that are a pain to remove (trust me, I did it). I then used an auto polishing compound (just some basic Meguiars that came in a detailing kit) to remove the sandpaper marks (rub across the marks left by the sandpaper) and return the shine.

Also, +1 to opening the knot hole up with a Dremel. I think that material would open up easily without too much risk of it breaking apart on you. But if you're really afraid of damaging it with a power tool, you could always do it by hand with sandpaper--I had to do this on an especially fragile handle.

this is the preferred method of the LUCITE handle restorers I have seen over the past few years,and the restorations are superb....this is one of the best and safest resto techniques...

[maxzoran]

I think I will go with hand sanding with wet/dry sandpaper. The pits look fairly deep, but I don't have much play with the entire bottom as the letters look pretty shallow already.

[pezhore]

Go with some 1500 or 2000 grit wet/dry and just focus on the outside of the bottom - that should lessen the pits without damaging the lettering. Out of curiosity, what brand oil crayon did you use? Did you try getting it wet to see how well it would hold up on its own?

[jkingrph]

I think I will go with hand sanding with wet/dry sandpaper. The pits look fairly deep, but I don't have much play with the entire bottom as the letters look pretty shallow already.

From the looks of that, remove all the pits and most of the lettering will be gone. You might try an in between approach, use wet/dry, the safest and best method by far and remove most of pits then polish. Auto body rubbing compound, then polish will work , just use a rag and hand polish, it will be slow but works, but first work the plastic down with progressively finer grits of sandpaper, 600-800 as a minimum on the fine side, 1000-1500 possibly better, you might be pleased with result of 1500 grit which is usually labeled as a mirror finish grade.

[maxzoran]

I used these

http://www.pentel.com/store/oil-pastel-1


I haven't tried to get it wet yet, but it's worth a shot. It's not like I can't just clean out the lettering and fill again

Go with some 1500 or 2000 grit wet/dry and just focus on the outside of the bottom - that should lessen the pits without damaging the lettering. Out of curiosity, what brand oil crayon did you use? Did you try getting it wet to see how well it would hold up on its own?