Here is a full breakdown and reassembly of a Tilley X246 (Pork Pie with long handle). As found: It had some old fuel set hard like varnish in various places: At some stage the lamp had been dropped (I think) and the rim had split and broken. It had been repaired with some resinous material. There was also a fair amount of blue powder (looking like some copper-ish powder) which had accumulated in the rim of the tank: The brass hood had been bent at some stage: The breakdown: Note the carbon on the pricker needle: The fettle: 1. All components were disassembled and all metal parts (except the globe cage) were put into 1:3 vinegar:water solution for 1 hour. 2. The parts were then put in 10% "Marine Clean" for three hours (except the tank, which was filled with the Marine Clean after the other parts were taken out). 3. Any residue left on the components was removes with a cloth, or, if necessary, a Dremel rotary wire brush. Repairs: 1. The hood was easily straightened with pliers. The repair is not visible on full reassembly. The tank rim: The tank rim was a bit more difficult to fix. First the brass was cleaned: Then the broken bit clamped in place: and the tank filled with water, turned upside-down, and the bottom also filled with water. The loose piece of brass was then soldered into place as best I could manage: The area was then filled in with epoxy and smoothed with the Dremel and fine sandpaper: More to come...
Part 2: The vapouriser was cleaned by "heating and quenching", then 3 hours in 60C bath of "Marine Clean" in the ultrasonic cleaner, followed by a good reaming out with a pipe cleaner. The Pricker was cleaned with fine sandpaper. All the other cleaned components were then reassembled. The original leather was used in the pump. New seals and pips came from The Fettle Box: This is the original burner assembly from the period. The components were put tightly back together with a smearing of copper grease: Note the corrosion on the brass in the hood. There is also some of this on the tank (see above) near the broken rim: Repainting: The tank, cage and external parts of the pump and control cock were painted with "VHT" brand High Temperature "Universal Gold" and baked for 1 hour at 94C (200F). It's not an exact match to the original, but it's ok for a 'user'. I always leave the bottom of the tank 'as it came' as a point of reference: I used one of Matthias' Tilley transfers to replace the one it came with: I used a "Fukushima" mantle to test the vapouriser. I had to resort to using some of the Kevlar thread Kerry (Kerry640) had sent me: Much to my satisfaction, the lamp lit beautifully. The vaporiser was fine. Here it is in the middle of the day (today): Note the darkening of the colour of the hood cap when the lamp is going. This hood is in very good condition so I will use an old one and keep this hood for display purposes: The lantern came with an old style wick: These are becoming my most used fettling tools: Getting this old thing going was alot of fun. Cheers Tony
Very thorough fettle, restore and documentation, Tony and the end product would grace any collection! I have the exact same model which is still a work in progress. Nice to have a preview of what it could look like when completed. Thanks for sharing!
Brilliant!! I only wish I had the patience to document my Fettles like this. The VHT paint looks great, I've two of these and a couple of Guardsman lamps to tidy up and I'll be using that paint!
Nice job! I was wondering if the fount would hold where it had been broken, but was surprised that it even seemed to be fuel-tight with the piece cut off... Nice bit of soldering too (can I be cheeky and ask if you use ornery' soft-solder for founts?)
OGD, I used soft solder. My concern, hence all the water, was that I would de-solder the inside of the tank. I thoroughly pressure tested it before painting, including filling the tank, pressurising, and leaving overnight. My experience is that the 'pork pie' tanks are built like brick sh#thouses. Cheers Tony
Whenever I am polishing brass, copper or bronze, (I use bench polisher's and a flexible shaft that imitates a Dremel) I always do the same, look for a section I can leave as a reference point and or age indicator. Sometimes a suitable area can't be found so I won't polish the item. Apart from enjoying the fettle on your lamp, from go to whoa, I also enjoyed your photography. Well laid out items in very good focus. Nice job all round Tony.
Very nice job! And a very nice lamp. This model, when it was new - what did the hood look like? The brass-part of it, I mean. was it painted in any way or did it come as shiny brass?
Jorgen The brass part of the hood would have looked a better polished version of this: http://0flo.com/index.php?threads/6492 Cheers Tony
Okay, thanks - then I will polish mine. I have a similar but slightly newer model, which I am now working on. The top of the hood - could that by any chance have been delivered in black on some of them? Because that's what I have (it was cheaper than the orange one).
I disagree with the polished finish as original on a 246 Pork Pie even lightly used examples are black. To me that indicates that Tilley produced them with the brass cowl in Matt Black the enamel tops vary a little from orange to yellow.
Here is the full set of pork pie lanterns. Different coloured tops , just had to touch up the brown vent. From the first short handle through to the last model Bob
Graham That's what I thought originally, but someone on CPL told me otherwise, so I assumed they were right. It will be in a thread somewhere on here. Cheers Tony
Graham The comment about "matt black" was from Stu: "...& the mat black is not paint, it's brass tarnished by repeated heating" . I don't suppose there are any NIBs left in the entire universe. I'll go and see whether Jim Dick says anything about it... Cheers Tony
Those brass hoods were left in plain unpolished brass. They go black with heat and are in general not worth polishing because if you use the lantern it will only turn black again. I would just clean it and leave it matt black. The top caps varied in colour from yellow to orange but this model X246 never had a black top. The black one was used on SDRs only as far as I know. ::Neil::
Yes, the blackening is due to the oxidation of copper from the brass to form copper oxide (CuO) which is black. I suspect that this layer on the outside prevents more oxygen getting to the brass underneath thus preventing further oxidation so it's better left in place. Repeated polishing will not only cause metal loss itself but will present a nice layer of fresh metal ripe for further oxidation. In my mind, the inference is clear...
Great work! I'm about to take delivery of one of these, prob in similar state. Hope I can get even close to your finished result. What is "Marine Clean"?
@Seamanjive Marine Clean, or, Cleaner Degreaser as it is now called, is excellent for removing old varnishlike fuel residues from lamp tanks. Not particularly cheap but it must be diluted, it can also be used more than once. Take a look here: POR15 Cleaner Degreaser (Marine Clean) 3.78 litres Henry.
