1930s Apex Restoration

VacuumLand – Vintage & Modern Vacuum Enthusiasts

Help Support VacuumLand:

I’ve also been asked a few times if I am missing wheels or wheel hardware because of the long blank bar. The answer to that is no. Here is a video about how the height adjuster works using that bar.

 
Thanks for sharing the resto pics, when I see vacs with that mottled aluminum on it - I always thought that was the finish they came in - but now I see it's about 100 years of heavy tarnishing.

Did you polish the emblem at all? I have a Bee Vac I tried to polish the emblem on and I started with a tiny area and the ink started coming off so I stopped immediately. All I used was just a tiny bit of Windex just because I was trying to read the serial number, maybe the ammonia in it reacted with the old printed ink.
 
This was the 30s, so it wouldn’t have come with a matte finish that late. Most of the early Hoovers did have a matte finish, though.
 
Another excellent restoration, as always! I have to ask, what's your process for polishing the aluminum? I see some sandpaper and Mother's Mag & Aluminum in this picture, and want to invest in some supplies to get my machines looking like new!
 
Patrick-

Thank you so much!

Process is fairly simple. It’s just messy and time consuming.
If the aluminum isn’t badly scratched (think a Kirby that went up against a coffee table)
Then you’re going to start with wet sanding
800 grit
1000 grit
1500 grit
2000 grit

Arguably, you can skip 1500, but I have more than one machine to show that it helps not to.
Then follow up buffing it out with 0000 steel wool and Mothers Mag polish
I additionally use my handheld buffer with a wool pad. It really sets the shine over the edge.

Let me know if this helps, or if you’d like more detail.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top