Restoring old Bakelite or Rubberset brushes

[tlentz]

Love this sub forum. I'm looking to pic up some old handles to do a restore and I'm not sure if these have been asked and answered already.
!. If you get a bakelite handle how do you clean that up? sand it??
2. If it's the Rubberset kind what do you do to clean or restore the non wood portion that houses the brush knot?

Thanks
Tlentz

 

[mattdenicola]

My experience is that sanding followed by some rubbing compound +/- PlastX works great for both.

 

[tlentz]

Thanks for the advice. Anyone else want to chime in??

 

[ras120]

You have to be careful with Bakelite because a lot of it began as a different color which changed over the years (for example, many of the old butterscotch brushes we see started out ivory in color). In essence, the butterscotch color is a patina that can possibly be ruined with sanding (I've done this). Unless you are 100% sure that the Bakelite piece was molded in the color you see, I would be very careful with sanding and would probably just polish it with a good plastic polish like Meguiar's Plastx. However, in some cases, it is desirable to remove the butterscotch patina like we see here: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...-bakelite-base-white-ferrule-and-29-30mm-hole

As for the other plastics, by all means sand out the scratches or mold lines by progressing through 200 grit, 400 grit, 800 grit, 1000 grit, 1500 grit, and 2000 grit sandpaper followed by Meguiar's Plastx polish. You can probably skip some of those grits (I do), but I would finish with at least the 1500.

 

[blzrfn]

The only bakelite I have experience with is the beautiful butterscotch variety. I would never take sandpaper to one because that color that is so desirable is actually a very delicate layer that is easily removed. Even using polish or a buffer (my preferred method) will remove a bit of the depth of color while returning to a beautiful shine. If you have colored bakelite (green, orange, red, etc) then you may actually prefer to return it to the original color, but since I have not yet owned one of these brushes I'm not sure how I would go about it. Here are a couple of before and after pics of my most recent butterscotch restore. I got aggressive on my bench buffer using a sewn wheel with white compound followed by a loose cotton wheel with blue compound. Normally I only use the blue compound but the butterscotch had some unevenness and what appeared to be stains that I wanted to remove.



As to your second question I am a little hesitant to give any advice because I'm not sure which specific brush you are dealing with. Most of the brushes made out of molded plastic or rubber will melt on the buffing wheel so a fine grit sandpaper (wet) or your favorite plastic polish would be the way to go. On my Centuryset brush the upper portion got treated to a very light 1500 grit wet sanding and then finished off with Flitz and the Sharpie paint pen treatment.

 

[mattdenicola]

Good points on the "butterscotch" bakelite. If you are trying to maintain the patina on the brush, then sanding is obviously a no-no. But you aren't going to do any structural damage. I've sanded many a bakelite object, from shave brushes to old coffee carafes, with absolutely zero issue. Next up for sanding are the dash elements and window frames on my old Ponton Mercedes.

 

[gdavila]

Glad you posted this thread. I'm restoring a brush myself and had the same questions.

 

[BrentS]

I have re-done/cleaned up/de-patina'd (hesitate to use the term "restore") a few of the Bakelite handled brushes with the wet and dry sandpaper method. This one is currently in process:



I worked on the bottom first with 400 grit just to see what color was under there. I have subsequently done some more work on the other surfaces (same brush on the left), but this one is a bugger to give up the patina:



This one has been through the 400/800/1000/1500/2000 grit process and then polish with the Meguire's plastic polish



The bakelite part of the brush needs more elbow grease than the black part so be sure to mask off the upper part of the handle if you go after the lower section with aggressive sandpaper to protect it. Depending on the condition of the upper section of your brush it will want some attention with the sanding but taking out scratches and dings is much easier on that part so don't get too physical.

 

[tlentz]

Thanks for awesome tips. The pics definitely help this newbie. More are welcome!!

 

[Jadehawk]

Thanks for awesome tips. The pics definitely help this newbie. More are welcome!!

+1.. Never consider trying to restore a brush like I seen here.. now I have an itch and I must resist the temptation!!.