Restoration Archives - Donald's Innovations & Repairs

Repair of a Church’s Baptismal Ewer

Donald Dawson — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 21:17:49 +0000

This beautiful, coated copper Baptismal Ewer from the 1950s came from a church in West Vancouver. The president of the Altar Guild brought it to us, hoping we could repair it. It had a broken cross and a severely scratched front face. Though it had been repaired once before with soft-solder by a jeweller, the repair had not held.

Materials

Copper
Brass
Silver solder

Processes

Metal Fabrication
Lathe-work
Hand-work
Silver-soldering

Assessing the Damages

My objective was to design and build a base to secure the cross and eliminate the original repair's weak points. To that end, I planned to create a strengthening shoulder pad for the cross.

However, I couldn't remove the deep scratches without damaging the finish on the ewer, which had been coated. It was not worth the risk, and the scratches did not detract from the ewer's copper patina and overall look.

FABRICATION AND MODIFICATIONS

I did the fabrication on my 1939 (83-year-old!) lathe, including turning to make the contour of the base. I used a specialized slot-screw blade in the tool rest of my lathe until I had the right groove to accept the cross.

Then, I modified a tiny brass screw to attach the cross's base to the lid, drilled and threaded the base for the modified brass screw.

I silver-soldered the cross to the base and screwed the cross to the lid with a brass screw and washer.

The baptismal ewer now had a very stable cross on its lid. Once polished, it was ready to be handed back to the church.

To our surprise and great delight, we received an unsolicited review from the church. You can read it below.

“

As a volunteer at my church, I was responsible for getting a baptismal ewer repaired. A year ago, a jeweler fixed it, but the repair didn't last and the cross on the lid came off again. This ewer is very important to the church because it has been there since 1956. I searched and searched and I felt that there had to be someone in the whole of Vancouver who could do this repair and then I found Donald's Innovations and Repairs on Google.

He was very methodical in examining the baptismal ewer to see if he could do the repairs before he accepted the job. He then kept in touch via e-mail

with photos of the progress he was making and the whole job was finished in one week. We are very satisfied with the finished product - it looks great and will now continue to be of service to the church for many years.

Thank you Donald.

Elizabeth Marshall

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Wall Sconces Repair and Restoration

Donald Dawson — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 21:41:03 +0000

Materials

Brass
Ceramic
Electrical and Mechanical Parts

Processes

Cleaning
Straightening
Rewiring

Five well-loved solid brass wall sconces came in for restoration after a flood in the owners’ condo. These sconces were not available for purchase as they were older models and no longer manufactured. Unfortunately, a flood remediation company used chemicals on the walls, including on the sconces. Those chemicals destroyed the protective coating on the sconces and discolored the brass. The company also stored the sconces improperly, which cracked the ceramic light sockets and bent the brass metal.

The quality of the original brass pieces warranted their total restoration. Slowly, I cleaned, bent, and straightened the five sconces and removed all the corrosion that had destroyed the brass and the top finish. Then, I restored the brush finish and applied a new urethane coating.

The original manufacturer had not crimped the ground wires onto the round terminals that fit around the hollow nipples, so I had to buy electrical parts and rewire everything. Because there is a vast difference in quality and brand when buying off-the-shelf replacement parts, it pays to do extensive research. I ordered standard electrical and mechanical parts from a U.S. supplier.

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A 25 lb. Ship’s Bell – Restoration and Fabrication

Donald Dawson — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 21:17:19 +0000

Materials

Bronze
Brass

Processes

Fabrication
Polishing

The Matterhorn Spirit Nassau 2005 bronze ship bell came to me for restoration from the Vancouver office of Teekay Shipping (Canada) Ltd. This hefty bronze ship bell was from a decommissioned ship.

In addition to restoring the bell, they requested the fabrication of a proper mounting bracket for a wall display for their Vancouver office. This brass mount had to support the 25 pounds and 12 inches diameter bell. The bell's tone was beautiful to hear right from the start.

Brass stock, which I needed to make the wall mount, was tough to find. It was the only material I could get; there was no bronze available in the sizes I required.

As anyone following my Instagram posts for a while would know, materials are scarce, and I do extensive research to find local companies that can still provide material. Several of my welder colleagues source brass from either Ontario or the Eastern States. It took over a month for some, and they still couldn't get their required sizes.

Once I received the brass, I cut the material for machining and then threaded the yoke to the hanger. The next step was to marry the bell yoke to the hanger. I had a lot of rounding of edges and smoothing on the ship's bell hanger. Though I didn't own a milling machine at the time of this project, six months of filing training during my machinist apprenticeship came in very handy.

Finally, I completed the project with a great deal of polishing.

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CPR Beaver Crest Restoration

Donald Dawson — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 22:49:37 +0000

As a train enthusiast, my wildest dreams came true when a client brought a treasured piece of history from the Canadian Pacific Railway. This cast aluminum crest was mounted on the maroon-coloured Canadian trains from 1948 to 1955. After 1955, CPR introduced stainless-steel scenic dome trains.

Materials

Cast aluminum
Enamel

Processes

Sealing
Gluing

The Damage

The damage to the crest was just under the beaver and in the mouth area, and it needed a complete restoration, including touch-ups of enamel. In addition, my client wanted the crest mounted to a board with an engraved nameplate.

Some cast aluminum alloys cannot be welded successfully because of their metallurgical makeup, and this cast aluminum crest was one of those. One solution to this problem was thoroughly cleaning and gluing the parts and sealing the hairline fractures. Then, I removed the excess glue, blended the glue lines, and coated the shield with its specific colouring.

When painting the beaver, I had to dull the shine and smooth the red coating. To protect the paint, I used a top seal coating of a clear archival spray, which protected the coloured layer of the crest.

Mounting

Later, as requested by the client, I mounted the crest and the engraved name plate I had ordered for the project on a coating-friendly plywood backboard.

I painted the rectangular backboard a stainless-steel colouring mimicking the streamlined passenger train from where the crests were removed.

I had to rethread the holes on the back of the crest because they were damaged. Originally, there were threaded holes on the back of the castings for mounting to the train, and specifically on one of four areas of the CPR “Chateau Viger” car, which started service on April 24, 1955.

Finally, to allow the backboard to be levelled and easily hung, I secured the board with four screws and two triangle clips with a coated wire rope.

This was a special repair for a crest that is close to my heart.

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Brass Porthole Restoration

Donald Dawson — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 20:10:42 +0000

Materials

Brass
Glass
Rubber O-ring

Processes

Cleaning
Sealing
Coating

porthole

This porthole, formerly from a ship, is a window in the bathroom of a home that looks out over the sea. The porthole required new seals, repair, extensive cleaning, and elbow grease!

a good scrub down

This porthole had a good scrub down. I had to remove the old lacquer and the discoloured brass underneath. Usually, 5 to 10 years is the limit for lacquer to keep brass bright before it needs renewal.

protective coating

The porthole got a protective coating because it served as a window in my client's bathroom, and there's no easy access to polish it. An unknown acid had etched the glass; thus, I ordered a new glass. Unfortunately, like everything nowadays, finding a glass shop that still has plate glass and will do odd jobs is getting more challenging. Plate glass is different from laminated or tempered. Its thickness is critical to the proper fit of gaskets within the porthole.

Final Results

A new glass, a new gasket, and a specially made size of O-rings finished this porthole, ready to return to a bathroom that looks out over the sea.

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