View single post by René Rondeau

Posted: Sat May 24th, 2014 08:15 am

Joined:	Sat Aug 21st, 2010
Location:	USA
Status:	Offline

While I'm at it, a few more thoughts that I should have included: what Ron Jeter does with his famous Q-tips is conservation at its most meticulous. His attention to detail in removing every speck of grime while keeping the original finish is mind-boggling and clearly a labor of love. I really admire that. To me that's infinitely better than bead-blasting a casting and painting/clear-coating it to better than new.

I also understand that sometimes that doesn't work. I have some restored fans. Some could even be called "blinged out", though not with non-authentic color schemes. My Crocker-Wheeler is one of them. It was beyond mere conservation, that one needed full-bore restoration, top to bottom. But-- I like it far more today than when I bought it. Why? Well, the nickel plating has started to tone very nicely over the past few years. It is no longer brilliantly shiny and new. It is showing -- dare I say it? -- genuine patina. I'll like it even more in 10 years when the nickel has dulled further, to the point that it will be hard to distinguish from original century-old plating.

It's sort of like my 1928 Ford, which I drive daily. It was restored over 20 years ago. It shows age. It has some wear and dings and chips. Anyone with only passing knowledge would look at it and think it is a remarkably well-maintained original. Of course it's not, but I love the fact that it doesn't look like a fresh, new restoration. It shows age. In this case, like the Crocker-Wheeler, not original age but both are now a long way from shiny bling, and I love them all the more for that. Those are to me the ideal restorations: they don't look new.