TimeTechTalk.com Home

TimeTechTalk.com > Time Tech Talk > Craftsmans Bench > Modders > Steves Recipe for Bronze Patina

Welcome to 3T! Please take the time to register and join in on the friendly,knowledgeable watch talk.Please note that not all registrations will receive an immediate activation e-mail.Those who do not receive an immediate notification will be activated manually within 48hrs. by an admin. without an e-mail activation url sent to you,you may then sign in using your username and password,if you feel there is a problem please e-mail us at timetechtalk@hotmail.com and include your name and username and we activate your account.Thank You!

 Moderated by: 3T Page:    1  2  Next Page Last Page  
New Topic Reply Printer Friendly
Steves Recipe for Bronze Patina  Rating:  Rating
AuthorPost
 Posted: Fri Jan 21st, 2011 01:36 pm
  PM Quote Reply
1st Post
oagaspar
Site Founder


Joined: Sun Sep 4th, 2005
Location: Akron, USA
Posts: 28115
Status: 
Offline
after searching the web for a process to quicken the aging of Bronze and finding dozens of which all required some chemicals and heat(torch) or just buying a ready made formula I decided to ask Steve/Benarus how he aged his bronze MorayII.
...here is what Steve sent me in his words since it worked out so well and surprisingly it is "green: formula which every WIS has in their home!!


"ok, here is what I did, this is fairly easy.

I hard boiled a few eggs, you just need 1, I ate the others.

when it is still hot and right out of the boiling water with shell on, put it in a ziplock bag with the watch, but separate the watch from the egg so they are on opposite sides of the bag.

then with the bag zipped up put a towel over the egg and smash it with your fist, the towel because the egg is still very hot.

The sulfur air released from the steaming hot hard boiled egg will fill the bag and the bag will inflate some, then the steam turns to water at the top of the bag.

rub the bag on the watch, but try not to get egg on the watch it will make dark spots... which is okay if that is what you want.

monitor it to see the color change, I think I left mine in about 10 minutes. I may do it again and see if it gets darker. I really love the new finish, the watch when it is new is too yellow for my taste."


much like Steve the new bronze was a bit too much on the "gilt" side for me and below is a pictorial of the process and the end result which took all of about a half hour as shown on the bronze Moray itself.My Moray now has a great aged look with some great green and brown and rust tones throughout that change with the lighting...all Thanks to Steve!thankyou.gif










Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: Fri Jan 21st, 2011 02:11 pm
  PM Quote Reply
2nd Post
stew77
Admin


Joined: Thu Mar 26th, 2009
Location: Colorado USA
Posts: 10249
Status: 
Offline
Just awesome Oscar!!!Thumbsup3.gif

This is the process that I cannot wait to execute on my Bronze Moray when it arrives...(I'll definitely take some nice shots of the "new" bronze, but after that the heavily aged and rich patina'ed look is what I'm after)...now I just need it to arrive!!!

I went through a similar process as you with the web search and agree that everything I came across was way too caustic and chemically unfriendly for me to consider trying on my own, but this is a nice, easy, and "green" solution that anyone can do on their own!!! Sweet!thumbsup.gif

The results are incredible and I especially like the fact that you can incrementally go through the process with as little or as much effect as you want until you reach the desired aging/patina!!!cool.gif...and, of course, the case will continue to age as time goes on but this accelerated process is just what I'm looking for to give it a huge jump on the beautiful patina.

Thanks for the very nice photo sequence and description Oscar!  The results look great!

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

 Posted: Fri Jan 21st, 2011 02:11 pm
  PM Quote Reply
3rd Post
Steve Laughlin
3T WIS


Joined: Sat Oct 11th, 2008
Location: Overland Park, Kansas USA
Posts: 1395
Status: 
Offline
Eggzactly! good work. I found that a few days after I did mine, the redish bronze turns to just a darker bronze color, but still darker and nicer color than the new metal. I think I will do another egg soon to see what happens, but time is probably the best oxidizer.

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: Fri Jan 21st, 2011 02:12 pm
  PM Quote Reply
4th Post
Devin
3T WIS


Joined: Thu Sep 25th, 2008
Location: Iowa USA
Posts: 3308
Status: 
Offline
That looks so sweet Oscar! I cannot wait for mine to arrive! anodie.gif

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

 Posted: Fri Jan 21st, 2011 02:14 pm
  PM Quote Reply
5th Post
Steve Laughlin
3T WIS


Joined: Sat Oct 11th, 2008
Location: Overland Park, Kansas USA
Posts: 1395
Status: 
Offline
if you want to really get the colors going, you can smash the egg, the mix the watch and the egg up, smearing the hot egg all over the watch. It could get spotty, but that might be cool, and after a few days I think it would even out, I might try it.

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: Fri Jan 21st, 2011 02:56 pm
  PM Quote Reply
6th Post
Paxman
3T WIS


Joined: Sun Apr 23rd, 2006
Location: NorthEastern, Wisconsin USA
Posts: 15957
Status: 
Offline
CHEATERS!!!!toon1.gif

 

Patina is aquired through use and time...

 

or an egg I guess...subtlelaugh.gif

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

 Posted: Fri Jan 21st, 2011 04:15 pm
  PM Quote Reply
7th Post
Devin
3T WIS


Joined: Thu Sep 25th, 2008
Location: Iowa USA
Posts: 3308
Status: 
Offline
Paxman wrote:
CHEATERS!!!!toon1.gif

 

Patina is aquired through use and time...

 

or an egg I guess...subtlelaugh.gif

dog smile.gif

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: Fri Jan 21st, 2011 04:46 pm
  PM Quote Reply
8th Post
oagaspar
Site Founder


Joined: Sun Sep 4th, 2005
Location: Akron, USA
Posts: 28115
Status: 
Offline
who would have thunk it...an egg!toon1.gif

...my B-Mo is now starting to even out color wise and looks sweet and the overall build of this watch is awesome imo...
ThumbsUp02.gif

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

 Posted: Sat Jan 22nd, 2011 02:41 pm
  PM Quote Reply
9th Post
Edgel
3T WIS


Joined: Wed Nov 30th, 2005
Location: Dublin, Ohio USA
Posts: 3473
Status: 
Offline

Fantastic! thumbsup.gif  I'm thinking anything with sulfur would work.  Cabbage farts? subtlelaugh.gif

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: Sat Jan 22nd, 2011 04:06 pm
  PM Quote Reply
10th Post
KenC
Admin


Joined: Sun Sep 4th, 2005
Location: Florida &, Arizona USA
Posts: 11288
Status: 
Offline
Paxman wrote: CHEATERS!!!!toon1.gif

 

Patina is aquired through use and time...

 

or an egg I guess...subtlelaugh.gif


EGG_ZACTLEY!!!

laughing.gif

hehehe...what a great yoke!!!

no.gif

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

 Posted: Tue Jan 25th, 2011 09:13 am
  PM Quote Reply
11th Post
elemental
3T WIS
 

Joined: Mon Feb 9th, 2009
Location: Girard, Ohio USA
Posts: 590
Status: 
Offline
sulfuric acid for the win.   a great idea. 

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: Sat Jan 29th, 2011 12:23 pm
  PM Quote Reply
12th Post
bigrustypig
3T WIS


Joined: Sat Apr 11th, 2009
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posts: 7504
Status: 
Offline
This is an amazing way to "cheat" on the bronze aging process but I like it.

I think 2 other ways may also speed it up. One is frequent exposure to sea breeze and second, a good rub down with sulfur soap (the medicinal type) that one can buy at the local chemist/drugstore. On the soap thing, maybe getting a lather with ye olde shaving brush and applying that lather on the watch and letting it stay on the watch for hours would do the trick better.

Steve, would these 2 "cheat procedures" work as well?

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

Current time is 09:27 am Page:    1  2  Next Page Last Page    
TimeTechTalk.com > Time Tech Talk > Craftsmans Bench > Modders > Steves Recipe for Bronze Patina Top



Lead Theme By: Di @ UltraBB
UltraBB 1.17 Copyright © 2007-2012 Data 1 Systems
Page processed in 0.1257 seconds (43% database + 57% PHP). 27 queries executed.