6139-6005 Pogue Bracelet Finish

[HiBeat]

I am reviving a great one-owner 6139-6005 Pepsi Pogue and I have a question as to the proper way to restore the all-original H-bracelet.    Hoping you guys can help out and steer me right.

The bracelet has tons of real life scratches (only a few are remotely deep) and was so dirty when I got it I thought it must be a brushed finish.   After the usual soaking, Ultrasonic bath, soft toothbrush, re-Ultrasonic, etc. the surface appears to want to be a shiny bracelet.

I don't want to Cape Cod cloth polish it if it's supposed to be a light brush that wore with age, nor do I want to scotchbrite and use a brushing pen for touch-up if it's supposed to be shiny.

Please share what you know about shiny vs brushed.  Thanks in advance.

[Deleted]

You need a flapper wheel to get the inital finish and then some 1200 or higher grit wet & dry glass/sandpaper to give you the final finish. I use my flapper wheels in my lathe but a electric drill held carefully in a chuck should do the same task. Then you just have to roll the bracelet over the wheel to get all the sanding marks going in a uniform direction. Thats how I do them anyway. Spend a hour or so doing that and they come up like new. I've owned NOS 6139-600x so I know it looks correct. The only issue would be the clasp. Those are sand blasted originally.

[HiBeat]

Thanks Tony.

[Deleted]

No problem. I've seen pollythecat aka Mike get excellent results just using various grades of sand paper. Also I am building a tiny sand blasting machine so if you want the clasp done as per original wait a couple of weeks and send it to me. FOC of course


Good luck

T

[HiBeat]

Mr. Cockroach Sir, boy did your technique work like a charm.   It is a thing to behold now.   Thank you for the awesome advice.

I walked into my great hometown Mom & Pop hardware store and said "sell me a flapper wheel, whatever that is."!   Now I'm an expert.   Yep, just as you said, about a full hour on the flapper wheel to really make it look right.   Both 6 and 12 o'clock sides and the end links too.  Then I had to use 800 grit as opposed to your 1200 grit suggestion and it seems to be absolutely perfect.

I have a new bracelet coming in (no watch) that looks to be from a 6139 and I plan to use this technique on again it was so much fun.

[Adrian-VTA]

I have a lot of success with sanding blocks. I'm always very reluctant to take off a lot of material, as the outer "skin" of the folded link bracelets are usually pretty thin.

I only use 3M sanding blocks, anything else is not so good. 

They are good because you can easily control the direction of your finish.

Sometimes I'll stick the part to the bench if I'm doing something fiddly with masking tape. Use polyimide (kapton) tape for sections you want to mask off. It sticks well and takes a beating. You can buy this cheaply from electronics stores, they use it for insulation and taping off electronics where heat is an issue because it is rated to stick up to about 270 degrees.

[HiBeat]

Yes 3M stuff always works very well.

I am getting into this refinishing and loving it !

[HiBeat]

Today I picked up a nearly unworn 6139- tapered to go along with my non-tapered that I recently returned from the depths of vintage wear.

To illustrate, this was a 'before and after' photo after the first end was run over the flapper wheel.   Really returned the grain nicely.

After the 800 grit sanding it really looks like it is supposed to.