Paint preparation

[mitzygolf]

Hi, when cleaning up vintage mower parts for for painting do you fill the deep rust marks or just treat and paint?

[charlie]

I would say its personal choice, what sort of finish do you want? If looking for a factory new look then fill all rust pits.

[hdtrust]

It is your machine, it up to you, but normally it is to restore to the quality and looks when it was new, which is original condition,unfortunetly the saying original condition has been corrupted by a faction of vintage collectors to mean red rust covered in oil! To be left to the next generation to do the correct thing. When in fact all they are displaying is their ignorance to those in our movement to strive to save our history correctly

[andyfrost]

Andrew it’s dependant upon how we term original, would you rather have a machine with all it’s correct “original” components with perhaps what some may say has tatty paintwork , or one with pristine paintwork with a host of incorrect parts fitted.
I know which I would rather have , I’ve just purchased another Howard 700 , I bought it because it was complete , along with some original factory fitted extras , and all bits and pieces are as they should be , the paintwork is average at best , but after a few hours fettling , it did a brilliant job planting spuds this morning.

Andy.

[hdtrust]

Hi Andy, the term original is what it says, there is no term about it, its like scoring a goal, if it goes in the net then its a goal, if you miss it is not a goal.
When we restore machines, its back to how they were in a new state, as for parts if they are missing then we make them, we are always in the foundry picking up new castings. This is the problem with a lot of modern collectors, its ok purchasing a machine that is 50 years plus old but dont expect the parts to be sat on a dealers shelf waiting to be fitted!
Then there is the modern couch collector who thinks restoration is coating bare metal and flaky paint, with an oily rag, saying they are preserving for the future, there will be no future if the parts are warn. Or is it the case they are scared to strip it, but dont want to show their inadequateness in life!

[charlie]

To restore, renovate, preserve ?
This will always be a hot topic as every collector has their own view of what each term means. I remember what someone said to me some time ago, ‘it’s only original once’ ie as soon as you strip the paint, what little that may be left, and repaint it, then it is no longer truly original. What about in service repairs or modifications? Are these left in situ, as they are part of the machines history, or are they changed back to how the machine left the factory, destroying that part of it’s history in the process.
Thinking about my 1957 Land Rover in it’s tatty but loved state, I heard the comment, ‘every dent tells a tale’. Restoring the bodywork back to factory condition would destroy all that history and far too many vehicles are restored to a condition far better than when they left the factory eg perfectly flat, smooth shiny two pack paint.

[john-e-w]

This conversation seems to have change course over the past few days – the original question was should you remove the rust dents or fill them in. I would rub them down, use a rust preventative, then spray with Hammarite which will go a long way to preventing rust occurring again and also “look like” rust indentations all over the bodywork, so the original rust pitting will not be seen.

I suggest that it’s over to the owners of the machines what course of action they wish to take.

John E-W

[mitzygolf]

Thank you very much for your input everyone

Very interesting.

[Author]

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