aging metal

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Good Day.

I was helping a friend move back into his cottage after a devastating fire. No one was hurt, but the cottage needed all but a total rebuild on the font face of the building.

During the repairs the old “double “S” shape wall ties were lost and everyone agrees that they need to be replaced.

Now I can make the shapes, I have the “rose washer” and a large square nuts, my issue is:

How can I make them look old?

I tried heating them and striking them with a ball pein hammer, it gives a pitted look, but fails to look old.

Can any one help?

 

[JEZGUZ]

What about using some sort of acid? Paint them with sulphuric or hydrochloric acid and wrap them up, and leave them for a few days, try it on some offcuts to see if it'll work.

 

[cumbriasteve]

We once needed a bit of steel plate to look over 100 years old, we ended up using a drill to put various sized indentations over the plate, some blunt chisel markings, some blunt centre pop markings and then put acid onto the surface to corrode away the edges of the marks, leaving some areas on longer in patches.

The acid was 'obtained' my a mate and was scary stuff, it bubbled and fumed something terrible, we were actually very lucky we did not get injured, it was one of those daft moments with mates situations, the plate looked great though.

 

[Wallace]

A needle scaler can beat metal up quite nicely.

 

[mike os]

must admit that generally I prefer the honesty of repairs being repairs

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

the sad thing is Mike OS is the new ones I made look "To New!" They stand out like a pair off....... you know what on a ball dog.
I like to see old stuff showing it's age, and the repairs. I will be trying the above methods and see how it comes out.

 

[chunkolini]

Ammonium chloride is a good way of getting it to rust quickly. I would suggest getting the surface texture you are after first. Have you thought of popping the bits in a forge to get the surface you want.
I use this stuff a lot and it is very effective and safe. To get things really aged scrub them with it, then sit them over a bowl of hot water under black plastic on a sunny day and it is like steam bath. The water vapour gets the corrosive effect going much faster.

 

[Kent]

could you not make it from old salvaged scrap and then give it the heat and hammer? this way it will already have the corrosion pits etc.

 

[mike os]

I still think it looks ok on a major refurb, if you were just replacing the ends or the tie then yes, maybe but for 99% of the time I prefer the "yes it has been repaired, look how well made the replacement is and how we made it to match the original" approach

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

I have made 4 replacements. I will be trying to age them, but not over age them. My friend wants them to look "just right", after all it is house.
But when we offered up the first of the new builds they screamed "new and modern", So the nest lot I made to look old with the look, well I tried. hence my post. But It looked to much like "new to make look old"
So I will try the aging methods here and see were I go.

 

[mike os]

new trying to be old is a look that I really really hate

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Me to, The first ones screamed new and stood out in the hamlet. My second attempt when I tried to age them were in my view " fake", new looking old.
So I want to try to make them look old, not as old as the lost originals.
If Nothing works we will make new from old stock and let time work her magic.

 

[julianthegypsy]

Heat them up yellow and let them cool, the scale will give you a decent finish.

 

[brightspark]

paint them with hamerite and everone will think there old rusty crap just painted over

 

[PTvor]

There are architectural salvage places which might have what you need, although in my experience of them they are very expensive.

I knew someone who made a musket and he gave the barrel that antique look with nitric acid.

Time to experiment, you have ammonium chloride and nitric acid to start with. Electrolysis might be another approach.

What's he going to do about the beams which have been replaced - have a go at them with a shotgun to simulate the woodworm?

 

[brightspark]

wooden beams are best sandblasted, it cuts the soft wood away and leaves the hard grain exposed

 

[PTvor]

It may be too late for this, but one thing worth doing is checking the local scrapyards, because it's a racing certainty the wall ties weren't so much lost as recycled by enterprising, volunteer recyclers.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

The wooden beams were saved and reused in their original place. only a light clean up and as a precaution treated against rot and worm. The builders even saved the welsh slate packing.

The Fire was inside, but it weaken the lime plaster and the fire brigade with high pressure hose did the rest, so the front wall was stabilised and the years old bowing was stopped. The out side looks as it did, give or take new paint.
As soon as it was noticed they had " walked" the local scrap yards were notified.

The cottage along the road did all their metal work with hamerite, it looks ......... fill in your own words. But it is not good.
The door I used bees wax on the wood and on the metal work, black boot polish and soot. But it looks good as the metal is old and that's was used in the past.

And before any one says about taking the ones from the back to the front, we tried. They are truly stuck in. We could remove them, but the damage out weighs the benefits.

 

[PTvor]

If the place has been stabilised then there's no need for the wall ties. They weren't put there in the first place for decoration. The place has been fire damaged and correctly rebuilt. I assume those ties weren't necessary for the rebuild and the ones at the back of the house are purely ornamental.

The ties were put in whenever, as a necessary and probably unsightly addition, a bodge, and not included at the time the house was built. It would have been unlikely to have been built with ties for decoration.

In five years time no one will remember there were ever ties.

I think you boys are making a cross to bear and an expensive one at that.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

I am not my friend want them. Plus the house is listed and he was advise to put back the wall ties.
If you look at the history they have bean there. in 1977 and in 2012 to celebrate the jubilee bunting was hanging from them. I think it would be nice to have them back.