Help with bakelite.

[richie]

Hi I'm new to this, just started it today. Hi to everyone. I bought this hoover 262 today- Jan 11th 2016 to restore. I also have a 612 and a 1224 I have restored. My grandad built them in the hoover factory in Perivale. It's complete, but a real mess. About 3mm of play in the armature and the front wheel spindles have flat spots, but how can I get the bakelite hood shiny again? Any ideas?

 

[bikerray]

I would clean it with soap and water, dry it very well then a good paste wax. You will notice when you get bakelite wet you will get a smell off of it.

 

[coffeecanman]

I usually polish Bakelite with either Novus 2 plastic polish or for tough cases, I'll use Mothers Mag & Aluminum polish on it first, then the Novus (with 0000 steel wool as the last resort.) Those products should be on the shelf of anyone that restores old things. The finishing touch is either Mineral Oil, or Avon SSS. Leave it on for a few days and wipe of the excess, then buff. Your Bakelite should look like new.

 

[richie]

Bikerray, It does absolutely stink like a bitter smell when I washed it, but paste wax I may actually have in the depths of my garage.
Coffeecanman, steel wool? Sounds harsh but it is deeply oxidised, so I'll give that a go too. Cheers both of you.

 

[coffeecanman]

Like I said, only in the most dire of situations would I use steel wool, and only 0000. Yours likely would not need that. Try mothers first. I've polished a TON of old Bakelite telephones, clocks, appliances, vacuums, and car parts using that and Novus 2. Paste wax can also be applied to prolong the shine, but I'd do that after the oil. Bakelite becomes brittle when the oils in it eventually dissipate. The key is to replace those lost oils - it's a porous material and will actually soak up the oil, especially when it is dull and dry looking like the hood of your Hoover.

 

[crevicetool]

If I may respectifully disagree...

One can get quite aggressive when it comes to restoring Bakelite back to it's original luster. Disclaimer: I am not, nor claim to be an expert in Phenolic Resins (Bakelite), and can only express my own experiences in the restoration of Bakelite and plastics in general.

Bakelite can be sanded. Yes, sanded to remove scratches and gouges. Obviously, when gouges/scratches are so deep that sanding the area smooth and level would distort the shape of the object - one needs to consider whether that part can be restored or replaced.

I have used as low a grit as 150 sandpaper to remove damaged material and to start the refinish process, continuing with ever-finer grits, carefully cleaning the object between grits. (If you don't clean the project - remaining dust containing loose grit from the sandpaper will scratch the surface you are attempting to smooth with the finer grit).

Typically, I work from 200 grit, to 400 grit then start wet-sanding with 400, 600, 1200. At this point one may choose to hand polish the object using any number of products such as Flitz, Maas, or anything suitable for fine household polishing such as silverware etc.

However, after my last pass with the finest grit wet-sanding, I polish the material on a bench grinder set-up with a wheel and rouge specifically made for "plastic" polishing. You can achieve the similar results without the buffing wheel - but it is tiresome and time consuming. After the wheel treatment, I then polish by hand just to give it that hand polished feel.

I, (personal opinion) would rather the Bakelite shine with it's own polished luster than to coat it with a wax or for that matter any "coating". To me, the wax is a layer that will discolor, wear away, etc., and who's to know what "reactions" with the Bakelite are taking place chemically.

Unfortunately, I don't have any photographs of vacuum parts other than a suction end hose coupling from an Electrolux Model XII to show my polishing results, but I do have a couple of telephone restorations showing the results of my efforts.

The first is a Thermoplastic WE302 with a Bakelite F1 handset. I did use the same technics on the thermoplastic base too. But one must use extra caution with other plastics - they are NOT as forgiving as Bakelite.

1st. "before" photo - one can see how rough and discolored the Bakelite has become:

 

[crevicetool]

2nd.

 

[crevicetool]

Base.

 

[crevicetool]

Finished product:

 

[crevicetool]

A WE202 showing lacquering work on the base, and polishing of the E1 Bakelite handset.

Before 1.

 

[crevicetool]

Before 2:

 

[crevicetool]

Finished Product:

 

[crevicetool]

Hope this may be of any help to you in your restoration.

 

[coffeecanman]

There's nothing wrong with different techniques, we are here to share such information, after all. I tend to be on the conservative side with my restorations, leaving a few scratches and dings vs. aggressively sanding, grinding, or re-painting. Beautiful telephone restorations by the way! I have a 302 on my desk here at the office, and a 202 in the living room at home. They are great, timeless sets.