We were delighted to be asked to help restore an old brass framed tube sign for Amersham Underground Station in London back to its former glory by a private client who had recently purchased the sign at auction. The brass frame, as you can see from the pictures, was in serious disrepair. Not only was the brass frame heavily tarnished having been exposed to the elements for over 60 years, but it was also fractured in three places.
Restoring the brass frame
The initial brass restoration work began by removing the layers of oxidation that had built up over the years. During this process it enabled us to have a better view of the fractures in the brass and the extent of the work we needed to do to restore the brass frame.
Once we saw the extent of the damage, we knew that simply soldering the brass back together would be sufficient to provide the strength the brass frame needed. Once the breaks has be properly cleaned, we opted to be spoke manufacture some small brass “braces” to bring the pieces together, then to silver solder the breaks.
Following the soldering, the new joins then needed to be filed back to give them a truly smooth finish and blend them in so they were no longer visible. Once we were happy with this, the brass frame was then hand polished to bring it up to a high shine, followed by applying a layer of Jade Oil to help protect the final finish.
From start to finish, the whole restoration process took us approximately three weeks to complete and we are pleased to say that our client is delighted with the results. Having taken delivery of his restored sign he said “You did a seamless job in soldering these three breaks, I struggle to even see where they are now. As for the brass surround finish it's gone from black to a highly polished brass and looks like new. I can't thank you enough for such a professional job and such pleasant people to work with.”
We genuinely enjoy working on unusual projects and relish the challenge they pose. This brass frame was a great project to work on and we are pleased our client is happy with his new purchase.
If you have a bespoke brass restoration or brass manufacturing project and would like to discuss the details, please give us a call. We will be delighted to help.