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Mickey
Joined: 04 Oct 2002 Posts: 11 Location: Columbus, OH
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Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2002 1:03 am Post subject: |
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I recently aquired a 5x7 Burke & James view camera. It's in fairly rough shape so I want to clean it up and either finish the wood or paint it. I belive that the bellows are glued to the wooden frames. Does anyone know a good way of removing the bellows without damaging them? They appear to be in good shape with no leaks so I'd like to keep them if possible.
Any tips on restoring this would be greatly appreciated.
[ This Message was edited by: Mickey on 2002-11-07 17:44 ] |
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Les
Joined: 09 May 2001 Posts: 2682 Location: Detroit, MI
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Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2002 4:16 am Post subject: |
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It's rare that a company would permanently glue their bellows in, but I wouldn't put it past B&J (Broke & Jamed)
remove the back and take a goood loong look around the inside of the rear frame, usually the bellows are glued to a lightweight frame and the frame is screwed into to the camera. The screws may be covered by a flap of bellows liner fabric so poke gently with an artist's /dentist spatula or butter knife.
As to the finish. If it's painted grey then I suggest D&L hand cleaner to deep clean the painted surface. Wipe on rub around wipe off with tissue or soft paper towel. After it's cleaned, a coat of Johnson's paste wax or your favorite brand of car wax wouldn't hurt.
If it's finished then I'd use either V&HP Naptha and cotton balls or the D&L cleaner again, but with cotton balls. You can use almost any furniture cleaner, but its mostly V&HP naptha and a nice scent. After it's dry, wax
Because you can''t remove the rear frame from the brass yoke without drilling out a brass rivet, I suggest polishing the brass with nevr dull. Try to avoid liquid brass polish as it can get on the wood . Nevr Dull won't be the fastest, just the safest.
To keep the shine, coat with Goddard's shine keeper. It's not permanent but it is effective. Just remember these were NEVER to be polished like a brass door knob. They were simply bright (but matte) brass.
This information comes from three years as a Conservation Technician at the Henry Ford Museum and 30 years of polishing the brass on my father's 1912 Buick.
_________________ "In order to invent, you need a good imagination and a lot of junk" Thomas Edison |
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45PSS
Joined: 28 Sep 2001 Posts: 4081 Location: Mid Peninsula, Ca.
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Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2002 2:54 am Post subject: |
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Mickey,
The bellows on my B&J Commerical Field 4 X 5 were definately glued on. They seperated from the plastic front standard from normal movements! I used Mostenbolckers Liftoff #2 on the rear where they were glued to the wood standard.
With the standard laying on its back, I applied the liftoff around the edges and let it soak for about 1 minute, I then turned it over and applied the liftoff to the rear edge and let it soak for another minute.
Next I started pushing on the bellows away from the rear standard until I found a weak spot where they were comming loose form the standard and gently pulled them loose from the standard. The stays of the last pleat only came out of the bellows but will be easy to reinstall when and if I get back to finishing the project.
after some experminting I used Jasco paint remover to remove the LEAD based paint and a plastic putty knife. 80 grit on an orbit sander or 100 grit on a palm leaves a surface that is SLOW to take stain. B&J usually used MAPLE to the best of my knowledge.
Charles
and you may find this link of interst.
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/burke-james/restore8x10.html
_________________
While a picture may be worth a thousand words, a quality photograph is worth a million.
[ This Message was edited by: 45PSS on 2002-11-08 18:59 ]
[ This Message was edited by: 45PSS on 2002-11-08 19:09 ] |
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Mickey
Joined: 04 Oct 2002 Posts: 11 Location: Columbus, OH
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45PSS
Joined: 28 Sep 2001 Posts: 4081 Location: Mid Peninsula, Ca.
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Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2002 7:30 am Post subject: |
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They're good ol' 1/4-20 and at least plastic knob ones can be found at hardware stores.
Charles
_________________ The best camera ever made is the one that YOU enjoy using and produces the image quality that satifies YOU. |
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