Refinishing a hood badge?

[Eli]

I have the original hood badge on my 1969 with the orange bars.

What is a good place to have it refinished or is it a DIY project?

[mfitton]

Here you go: http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...769#post571769

[Eli]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I have decided to do it myself. I'm doing it right and using a kiln and the enamels to do it like it was done at the factory.

I will post the results. This should be fun! That or it will be a horrible horrible mistake, either way wish me luck.

[jaudette3]

I have an original in terrible condition that I would be glad to send you if you would like one to experiment on. PM me your address and I'll send it to you.

JohnA

[Eli]

Very cool.

PM sent.

My wife already works with enamel powder with her bead making so I have all the tools I need to do these right. A donor is just what I need, thanks.
I will send it back to you in pristine shape.

[jaudette3]

Matt...

Going out tomorrow.

I understand that the color is very hard to match. If you ace this you might have found yourself a new business.

Thanks,
JohnA

[ajwans]

Refinishing the gold correctly seems to be the hardest thing to do. Alan Heywood told me that the originals were 10K gold rather than the 22K he used for economic reasons. This is why most restored badges look too shiny.

Has anybody got any good photos of the new official reproductions, the few pictures I have seen make them look to be a pretty good deal at the price.

andy

[frankmar]

Hello Eli,

Did you take a look at this thread:

http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...Badge+frankmar

I got the new badge. I believe it looks nice but a bit too shiny. Maybe in a couple of years it will be perfect if it get a bit of patina.

[Eli]

That is a great thread, no I had not seen it.

Yeah that is a great example of what I'm trying to avoid. These old badges are going on old cars, the patina on the badge is the thing I want to keep the most, and it is the hardest to fake. A brand new shinny badge going on 40 plus year old car does not make sense from an esthetic point of view. I'm not planning on touching the metal. Taking one of these old crests and polishing the metal to a bright shine is akin to taking a piece of early American furniture and stripping it down and putting a new finish on it. "Way to go Grandma, your desk is worth 10,000 dollars had you left it alone and kept the old finish it would be worth 500,00."

On these badges the bond between the metal and the enamel is breaking down probably do to vibration and flexing from the car. The dimpling on the badges serves a purpose because it adds surface area for the enamel to bond. The goal I have is to just restore the bars and try to preserve` the patina as much as possible.

[CidTito]

Eli

I have one more that you could practice on if you want to try. I did go ahead and purchased a new one from Stoddards and finding myself driving 10% faster to shorten the patina time.
Let me know - tito