Hi lampies if you rember i won this Tilley Guardsman on ebay a few weeks before christmas,well this weekend i have fianaly finished restoreing/fettling it. It has taken we a fair while to finishing this lamp due to christmass and other things You may well rember the above pics this is the condition it arrived in,it is not in the best of conditions there has been some bad solder repairs to the top of the tank there is a lot of rust on the enammeled hood and the plaited frame guard, so over the weeks it has been completely stripped down and all work carried out The above pic is the tank it was soaked in a very mild solution of spirits of salt and hot water to remove all the tarnish,then the bad solder job on the top of the tank was redone before buffing it on my polishing wheel useing three grades of mop and polishing rouge/soap and then finishing with brasso polishing wad Here in the above pic shows the new solder work i carried ot on top of the tank just another pic of the tank showing the makers name and the famous owl logo The above pic shows the condition of the enammeled hood sadly a lot of the enammel has worn/chipped off etc and there is a large amount of surface rust to the top of the hood Here i the hood after i have stripped off all the enammel and given it a few coats of high tempreture paint made by thermacure which is suposed to with stand tempreture upto 650degrees celcious the colour is Mojave red Next job was the upper burner assembrly the above shows the upper burner stripped down and cleaned this was all so soaked in the solution of hot water and spirits of salts,there was all sorts of debris in the burner dust even cobwebs as well as carbon Here are a few more pics of the upper burner reassembeled, i have reached my limit of pics at the moment so that will be all for now more to follow shortly
What concentration are you using for your "a very mild solution of spirits of salt"? I've been using white vinegar so far, but something a tad more aggressive would be nice.
And now on to the second part of the restoration/fettle The above pic shows the lantern frame it all so has been coated in silver heat proof paint as all the original chrome or nickel plaiting had gone and it was covered in surface rust and was quite pitted,this paint i used was the left over i had when i restored a Primus71 stove i have no idea how well these heat proof paints work as i have only fired up the 71stove for a short while, i am yet to find out if the paint is as good as the manufacture's recomendations Here in the above pic of a brak down of the control/cleaning needle cock,the spring was missing on it so i took another members advice and used a spring from a biro pen i had to cut it down a bit so it could fit a new viton washer from Ross is about to be fitted Here is a pick of the control cock knob i have re painted in the lettering.very easy to do just used som white model enammel paint and wiped of the acces with a piece of kitchen towel moisened with so enammel thiner and then gave a coat of clear enammel varnish to help protect the lettering Here is a exploded break down of the pump tube assemberly with new viton washers and leather pump cup from Ross's/Spiritburner service pack Here is a close up of the NRV( non return valve)with a new viton washer this was very difficult to remove from the pump tube it had realy seized to the pump tube i had to soak it in WD40 for a couple of hours and still had to use pliers even with a cloth wrapped around it i sadly marked the knurling Here is the Guardsman fully assembled i have fitted a base camp pro mantle so we will see how it performs all so i have fitted a primming device from Stu which is for a Bialaddin lantern as i much prefer this typr of spirit cup/primmer to the Tilley clip on primming device Here is a close up of Stu's home made Bialaddin spirit cup/Primming device i will add a few more pics in the evening with it lit up i have used a vapouriser from my Tilley 500 series as the original has loads of rust pits in it and it was realy coked up with carbon i spent a good while this morning removing as much carbon as possible but with the general condition of the vapouriser it may well not have worked properly as the jet orafice would proberbly be enlarged
Hi All i put the parts in a bucket and cover the parts in hot water and add about a quarter of the bottle may be less and if it needs a bit mor i will add some to it it is best if you can use the weak as possible solution and keep a eye on it
What a fabulous restoration Hard to believe such beauty can lie beneath the crud. Some great tips and techniques and nicely documented with the pictures. I'm curious how the high heat paint works out. Keep us posted. Dan
Hi Dan many thanks for your kind compliements i am al so curious to see how well the paint stands up to the tempreture if it does then i will be happy it looks a lot better than what it was and will protect the hood against the dreaded rust in the future, but it is a shame i have not yet seen a high tempreture paint in a gloss finish it would look so much better but then nothing can beat the looks or durability as a enammeled finish
Here is the lantern lit i am very impressed with the Guardsman model and the pro mantel from Base camp
Hi Stu many thanks for your compliment your spirit/primmimg cup is first class it works a treat realy does prime the lantern a treat
Hi Brian! First of all.....FANTASTIC!! I love the Guardsman with all of its bare brass! Its still tempting to do it to mine? I love all of your pictures they are brilliant! Great restoration! Adam
Hi Longiliy and Adam many thanks for your compliements i agree Adam the Guardsman is brilliant lantern the shape of the brass tank looks realy well when polished up, but keeping it that way is going to need polishing from time to time to stop it tarnishing,thats proberbly why Tilley sprayed there tanks with a metalic paint to make it look good and keep maintanace of the tank down
I agree the finished job looks very good and you have done a nice job on it BUT. In maybe 30 years the tank will be scrap because it will have stress cracked badly. The main cause of stress cracks in brass after poor factory annealing is the use of chemical cleaners. Strong acid or alkali will do the same. Acid makes the brass go a light reddish colour and that is an indication that the zinc at the surface has been etched away leaving copper. That in turn means the surface of the brass is cracked. Minute fissures to be sure but they are there and in time will get worse. Best way to clean a brass tank is with a polishing mop and nothing else. Takes longer but preserves the tank better. Manufacturers always covered the brass on any product. A lot such as stoves were just lacquered but Tilley after WW2 painted or plated to protect the brass. Taking it back to the brass is removing that factory applied protection and means a shortening of the life of the lamp. I don't say don't do it because you can do whatever you like with your own lamp. I do say be aware of what you are doing and understand the implications. Not important with a Guardsman because there are milliions of them out there but if you ever find a rare lamp then take care how you clean. ::Neil::
Hi Neil thank you very much for your compliement and advice on this lamp the original finish had gone but infuture it will pay to apply a finish as original as possible or polishing with just the mops only,it would be great if i could come across a large ultrasonic bath cheap so no chemicals could be used to remove any tarnish even if it took a day to remove the tarnish
I understand only too well the desire to make a lamp look bright and shiny again. Trouble is we all look for quick fixes and an acid bath is certainly that. This is OK but leaves a weakened brass which will cause problems in time. In fact it would be better to bead blast and then paint to protect. No need then to take any chemicals to the brass as the bead will leave a nice key for paint and paint will protect. Problem with that is a painted finish may not be the most desireable. Decisions decisions??? ::Neil::
Depends what they are made of. Steel is not a problem. Old brass ones clean best with heat and quench before brushing out. No need to polish them as they get dull-black in use anyway. ::Neil\::
Very well done, I am really enjoying reading in this forum, I have only had aTilley for 2 weeks, and have a lot to learn. I have ordered the washer kit, and mantle, I sainting for the parts before taking apart. I also have won a second Guardsman on eBay, it should arrive in a week or so. The comment that most interested me was about the risk of a polished tank, mine appears to be painted gold.
Yes, they're meant to be finished in gold paint - saves continual polishing! Personally, I deplore the practice of polishing lamp and lantern tanks when they didn't leave the factory that way. But each to his own...
No probably about it. They were always painted, plated or polished and lacquered. They never sent out a lamp polished without lacquer. We do find them like that because down the years the lacquer takes on a brassy look and starts to fail so previous owners have sometimes just polished the lacquer away. ::Neil::
Sorry I ment polished and lacquerd Be more carefull next time But I have seen a couple of TL10 s with the painted cream tank ?? Whats your thoughts on that??? Kenny
When we're talking about polished and lacquered, do we mean clear lacquer? In which case, what's that shiny gold-ish lacquer you see on older Tilley tanks..?
Well David I think it is a clear lacquer but just over time it turns to that shinny finish we see on a lot of Tl 10 and PL 53 s, But if it is to far gone then I prefer to remove it and polish but Neil says that polishing brass hames it in some way but surely they would have to have been polished in the first place before lacquer was applied I don't know but I would like to find out?? Kenny
Yes that is right. It is a clear lacquer but in time it takes on that brassy look. You see it a lot on old instruments. It is not the polishing that harms the brass. It is leaving it unprotected afterwards that leaves the brass exposed to the atmosphere and allows chemical attack. In our homes there is often a trace of amonia in the air because people use amonia based cleaners for kitchens and bathrooms. Given enough time this will damage the brass and for this reason you should always protect the brass. I understand very well that appplying a lacquer reduces the shine and they look better when polished. Trouble there is two fold. One is the brass will deteriorate from chemical attack and two is to keep the shine you have to re polish from time to time and that reduces the thickness of the brass. OK not much maybe but do it often enough and you are beginning to affect the strength of the tank. ::Neil::
