After a month with a lot of churgery ( on my head) on Wednesday I really started to feel better... ouffff. After lounging around in the garden I drove to person x from whom I bought 3 pressure lamps. These had had a long life and didn't look too good. The price was therefore low because a lot of work was required on these lamps. I tackled the first one. A Hipolito H502 Automatique. I got it fairly clean and gave the parts a very thorough maintenance. A friend bought this one from me. He also bought the previous brother from me. The other 2 were a different story. The 1st Petromax (829/500cp super Rapid) had stood in the rain for exactly many years and had become one large rusty lamp. The glass was broken and every part was stuck. Now that I am a bit better, I was able to quietly tinker on a chair in my garage to loosen them all and give them an overhaul part by part. The lamp was originally chrome, but it had not been spoken for a long time. by. While I was working on the parts I started thinking. There is a layer of copper underneath the chrome. If I carefully sand away all that rust, the copper will probably come back to the surface. And sanding and sanding and sanding until my hands hurt. In the meantime, taking some rest, etc... completely clearing my thoughts is a gift from heaven now. And yes... after hours of sanding and doing, this lamp got a Steampunk look. It looks weathered but works perfectly. I still had a reinforced Schott Suprax glass in stock and it was able to shine its light again after many years in the evening of the next day. I had a different idea for the 2nd Petromax(829/500cp Rapid). Here's the same misery of weathered parts and a lot of rust. I sanded the hood very neatly and gave it a refractory coating with paint up to 800°c. The hood can go up to 600°c, so that should be sufficient. I sanded the tank very neatly and finely. After masking off the necessary items, this tank was given 5 layers of red and 3 layers of varnish. Because the weather is not optimal, each layer was helped by the hairdryer on a warm setting. The housing also got a copper look and some chrome, which was still OK. The combination forms an unprecedented Petromax that looks really good. The test just now was optimal. After burning in the incandescent mantle it was time to heat the lamp for 90 seconds and then poof...the light shone into the darkness and the garden lit up completely. I think it's great that these beautiful pieces of technology can be brought back to life after years of stagnation with some love and knowledge. A welcome activity in a somewhat more difficult period...
