Technical & Reference Section > Tech and Restoration

Stem Restoration

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monkian:
I thought I'd contribute this little resto :)

It started off as a bit of an experiment but it worked out alright so thought I'd chuck it up.
I hope it's of some use ;)

You might know I bought a stem that was the wrong size so I went out and got this replacement. I took a bit of a gamble on it as it needed some work but I thought I'd give it a go & don't mind using resto parts on a build. Anyhow it turned up like this:



Looking at the base, it's got a textured finish from casting with what looks like a semi-matt type finish so I thought I'd try to recreate it without loosing the texture or stamp definition. I did all the usual prep, clean, de-grease, a bit of light sanding (with a sanding sponge) and I used needle files to work out any small chips etc. Looked in the garage and found an old pot of matt black house paint and a tin of gloss black spray paint so I just mixed together a small amount of both (probably around 60/40 or 70/30 - gloss/matt).



To apply it I used a bit of old tea-towel wrapped around my finger and just dabbed it on. Small dabs, working quite quickly around the whole base. The nice thing is, there's no rush and you can work back over it to even the paint out. Even when it's going off and still tacky, you can use your finger to work out any uneven texture or high points. It sounds like a lot of fuss but it goes off quick so it's no big deal. I gave it three coats, lightly using a bit of wire wool to key between them.



I think I'll work some more on polishing the top but I'm pretty pleased with it so far.





Oh yeah, it's a good idea to think about where to put it to dry...
I got caught out and had to work something out still holding on to it ::) ;D

Retrodan72:
Great stuff Paul, top resto, looks ace.  :coolsmiley:

Bet you looked a right tool walking around the supermarket carrying a stem waiting for the paint to dry.  :LolLolLolLol:

BMX1973:
That looks a good result. :4_17_5:

Top tip with the teat towel. How many layers of dabbing did you do?

monkian:
Yeah, it was a bit tricky putting my clothes back on :shocked: ;D
It was x3 rounds of dabbing (drying in-between)...
The first one was just in matt but didn't look right so then I mixed in the gloss :daumenhoch:

oldschoolace:
Great idea that and cracking results  :daumenhoch:

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