Featured Victorian door handles story

Hi community!
Some interesting story for you here

These door handles passed through me almost two years ago. I saw them at a flea market and couldn't pass them by. I feel sorry only when I see broken things, or things repaired completely incorrectly. In this case, I was not sorry, because I knew that there was a small diamond hidden behind the paint.
There were about 8 layers of paint on them of different colors and ages. I cannot know why they were completely painted, but perhaps during some crisis or war they were hidden from unwanted eyes in this way.
Either way, I love giving old items a second chance. And he restored them completely, leaving a little patina where it was possible and appropriate in my opinion.
If you are interested, I invite you to watch the restoration process on my YouTube channel. I rarely filmed before, but I’m glad that this material has been preserved.

 

Beautiful! Well done. The community needs more people like you!

 

Beautiful Victorian Gothic Lav !

 

Oh I love those!!!! Where is the diamond? It is an old mine cut?

 

Those are gorgeous, and nice work on the restoration.

I've had pretty good results boiling paint off items like this. Sometimes you get lucky and it comes off in large 'sheets.' Obviously I don't boil anything made of wood...

 

That was so satisfying to watch! A lot of work, but a lot of reward!

 

Those are now ready to go right back to work. I've heard of people "cooking" paint off in an old crock pot bought for that purpose. No good for wood of course, as noted.

 

@laura9797, did he possibly mean they were "a diamond in the rough"......they are
SO LOVELY now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

@Lavrentii, What a beautiful job you did on cleaning them up!!! SO NICE now!!!!

 

Ahhhhhhh! Got it! Thank you

 

Sorry for my English, I meant that behind the paint there is a precious stone) Although I also have many interesting stories with diamonds, I will share them in the future)

 

Thank you! Yes, I also heard about this method, but did not use it. I have a lot of friends who are restorers and wizards; they work wonders. And I’m just learning as I work. I dream of learning to work with porcelain. I have a friend, he is a museum employee. Oh God, how he restores porcelain! It’s true, without special tools it’s not even noticeable that restoration was carried out.

 

Nice job, I would say if your ever cleaning brass that has very bad tarnish use vinegar and salt, this will do the job far faster than mechanical cleaning or brass cleaner, also I would have buffed them to a bright shine, some antiques you shouldn't restore to as new but these should look as splendid as they were when new.

 

There was also a coating on the brass, such as blackening. And I wanted to keep it. I did not use special products for polishing and cleaning brass, although they are on hand. And I also wanted the item to look old, but if you polish and clean it completely, it will look new. I generally don’t clean old metal until it shines, the patina is wonderful