Clean or leave this sundial?

[Richard (OldStager)]

Another item removed from the Wirral is this sundial which once belonged to my grandfather and his father before him, so its quite an airloom for me. Seeing as it's so old do I clean this or leave the patina as is. Its solid brass and when I was a kid was sat within the centre of a large birdbath affair. If I am to clean it what would I use as to not damage it ?.

 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman)]

Leave.

Clean it and decades of hard won patina are gone.

[Richard (OldStager)]

I must admit that is my choice as well, however it is quite hard to actually read a time from it , I did test it out before outside and you do have to look quite closely to pick up the shadow. It was never polished when I was a kid anyway.

[Rhett Turner - Black Country AO]

I could be tempted to clean, that looks beyond patina and mostly dirt and grime.

[Richard (OldStager)]

I suppose I can just wash it off in the sink with soapy water to remove the ingrained dirt in the surface, could use a paintbrush or similiar , I have seen enough Time Team episodes to treat old stuff quite carefully. My Aunt never actually installed it in her garden, it was stuffed into a box in the garage, but I recognised it straight away.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman)]

Yeah, sorry, from the way the question was framed, I assumed you meant preserve, or clean back to polished metal.

 

I would, sympathetically, clean the detritus of storage and bird crap off! I just wouldn't do anything to remove the lovely underlying colouring.

 

[TAFKARM]

Use it to time Chris Kings lap times, but dont clean it. 

[Richard (OldStager)]

4 minutes ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary said:

Yeah, sorry, from the way the question was framed, I assumed you meant preserve, or clean back to polished metal.

 

I would, sympathetically, clean the detritus of storage and bird crap off! I just wouldn't do anything to remove the lovely underlying colouring.

 

Yes, I was contemplating polishing back to bright shiny brass, but the patina gained has to be many many decades old and is a shame to remove that , my nextdoor neighbour is a retired joiner, I may ask to see if he could build me a nice stand for it in the style of its age.

[Captain Colonial]

That’s going to be awfully tiring, wearing that on your wrist.  Does the Sun actually shine in Blackpool for long enough to get a reading?😆

[Richard (OldStager)]

1 minute ago, Captain Colonial said:

.  Does the Sun actually shine in Blackpool for long enough to get a reading?😆

No not really 😂, I may have to built a revolving led fake sun so it look like it works 😁

[Captain Colonial]

1 minute ago, Richard (OldStager) said:

No not really 😂, I may have to built a revolving led fake sun so it look like it works 😁

I look forward to the build thread!

[Captain Colonial]

On a (rare) serious note, maybe consider lightly cleaning only the recessed Roman numerals to make it easier to read and leave the rest?

[Richard (OldStager)]

good point, I'll pop it in the sink shortly and see what it looks like after a paintbrush clean with soapy water

[Richard (OldStager)]

Well this is after a gentle soapy wash, hard to see a difference really, there is still dirt or something within the carvings but that may be because under that its a rough surface so it will attract dirt to fill the imperfections. I really don't want to destroy the general look but the bird poo has caused the green stain on it which didn't get removed when washing it.

 

[Captain Colonial]

If it was mine (and we all know how sensible I am and what good taste I have 🙄) I’d hit the underside of it with a pressure washer to test it, then providing it didn’t ruin the finish, do the top and fill in the recesses with gold paint to highlight everything.

 

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