Hi, I have a Chrome plated Guardsman The Chrome is in poor condition and I cannot see any date stamp or other stamps on it, not even the "Tilley" stamp or "Made in England" The only mark on it is a broken water transfer on the bottom. So I am wondering if this is a "Copy". The cage was a bit bent but I have managed to straighten it out. Any info as to the date or why there are no markings on it will be welcomed..
@Pitsmoor Col It is a Tilley X256 from 1949 to 1954. One of the best... Tony PS: It’s not chrome plated. Tilley, in that period, used speculum for plating.
Excellent vintage that one... should run like a dream if my one of the same year is anything to brag about
@Pitsmoor Col A good sturdy Tilley that’ll never make a fuss. For quality and reliability, I reckon it’s the best lamp Tilley made.
I suppose you'd have to use abrasive on a bench grinder / polisher. That sounds like lots of work to me for no real purpose. I'd live with the chrome as it is and see it as signs of a lantern life well-lived. If you want a shiny brass tank, it seems to me that it's probably going to be easier to start with a painted example...
You can polish it off with a buffing wheel using more force than you'd normally use. I guess you could use regular metal polish but it will take a while! Alternatively you could spray the fount gold and make it resemble how they left the factory in the UK.
There are chemicals for stripping chrome, but will be narsty... I see from your avatar that you are in Sheffield ; you could get a quote from a Chroming shop first before you decide to do anything? All depends how far you want to go with it? You could Nickel plate it yourself...folks have done stuff like that on here? There are decals still available on ebay and i think that Base-camp at Peterborough have them?
Don't strip the speculum plating, just get another old banged up tilley or look out for another unplated fount on ebay, cheap enough, besides you need a new hood don't you.
The speculum indeed looks rather rough. Its your lamp anyway. You're free to do whatever with it if you don't quite like its current appearance. Mechanically, its really painstakingly tedious to remove all the plating down to bare brass. It'll take forever even with the buffing wheel especially those tight, hard-to-reach places. Some guys might use electrolysis to do it. You can immerse it a little longer in your usual acid bath to thin out the plating as a preliminary step. But you'd need to inspect it frequently to ensure the brass is not pitting or corroding in the acid. Followed by wet sanding with rather fine grade sandpaper or pad.(something that won't give deep scratches) to remove the remaining plating. By all means, don't use a wire-wheel. Finish off by fine polishing/buffing with Autosol, Mothers, etc. to give it a 'mirror-like' surface. You could use lacquer/clearcoat or other means of treatment to preserve the bright, reflective surface. Otherwise, you could also leave it as bare brass that'll tarnish naturally to form a patina, which is also attractive in its own right.
Cheers Gary, It's not actually mine, it belongs to my partners daughter I said I would have a look at it for her as a favour. I will have a word with her to see what she want's to do with it. regards Colin..
