Cone Restoration Question: Gold Lids

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Cone Restoration Question: Gold Lids

#1

Post by Wheaton »

For years, I've wondered but never asked: what did the can companies use to make gold lids gold? Is it some sort of varnish? I'm thinking specifically of conetops. I've had some that the rust was sandpapered off of, and they just don't look right that way...particularly when the original cone was supposed to be gold in color.

Polishing the metal so that the sandpaper grooves go away isn't a problem, but how would one approximate that metallic gold finish?


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Re: Cone Restoration Question: Gold Lids

#2

Post by Leon »

I remember when I needed silver j-spout donor lids for my rolled Kamms j-spouts. I had 2 nice gold donor lids but needed silver. Took Acetone on a rag & wiped the gold right off for instant silver lids. LEON.
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Re: Cone Restoration Question: Gold Lids

#3

Post by Daev Larrazolo »

Remember no question is a stupid one unless I ask.


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Re: Cone Restoration Question: Gold Lids

#4

Post by plogan42 »

Dave W.,

Try Sargent Art's 'Washable Watercolor Magic' in gold color. $5 at Hobby Lobby, in their paint/artist department.

Go to their website http://www.sargentart.com if there are no Hobby Lobby's in town.

This is high-end watercolor. Not Crayola.

It is essentially a paint that can be diluted with water to thin out. It makes a excellent refinish on the gold for LP cones. If the cone you have is on-grade, but the top looks ratty (before sanding & polishing), and out-of-place after such, this puts the gold back on.

It looks good, really does. Play around with it with cheap airbrush unit. Several light coats recommended. It leaves a matte finish that is spot on to an original A1 gold top.

And it washes off with 3-5 min soak in warm water if the new owner of the can doesn't like it.

Good luck.
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Re: Cone Restoration Question: Gold Lids

#5

Post by Conehead »

Interesting info plogan42. Thanks. I may experiment with that stuff myself sometime.

Dave,

If you remember EVILBUNNYHUNTER (I think it was him, if not I do appoligize) who had his conetopdoc listings on ebay (many years ago) for refinishing spouts. I don't know how he did it but the results were really quite good and I would say 95% of collectors would not be able to tell the spouts were repainted. I also remember he caught quite a bit of flack for "restoring", "repainting", or whatever you want to call it from the purist crowd, but that is a debate for another thread.

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Re: Cone Restoration Question: Gold Lids

#6

Post by allconesrgreat »

Most likely, all cone top were painted with oil based paint and then many companies used laquer or vanish to preserve their cone tops and bottoms. Ask my uncle Jim Straub years ago and he was President of Straub Brewery for 25 years or so. He travled to many beer show over his life. Most con top have better bottoms due to oxidation of the lids. I have played around with many different paints to find the best example. Make sure your conetop is free of all oil, dust, and contaiments. Use blue paint tape around the rims of top and bottom. Wrap in newspaper and secure with masking tape. Blue tape is about $6.00 per roll. Paint with a red primer or metal primer 1st. Sand or steel wool to desired finish. Then paint with ACE Mettalic gold paint. A few coats of ACE Metallic dry as close of any color. For Silver tops use red primer then Rustoleum Silver. For cone top that are bare metal clean and use remington oil works great. Have used for many year and keep lid looking great.
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Re: Cone Restoration Question: Gold Lids

#7

Post by Barry Travis »

Allcones-great advice here. I used steel wool last night on the cone and an unrolled tin sheet when sanding the rim edges. Make sure to BLOW away any steel filings inside the rim edge and then wipe the cone carefully to remove finger oil,etc. You can alter the intensity of the gold by spraying further away and using light coats. Its pretty stunning how much of a difference this makes.
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Re: Cone Restoration Question: Gold Lids

#8

Post by Leon »

Barry, Post a pic of your results. LEON.
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Re: Cone Restoration Question: Gold Lids

#9

Post by Barry Travis »

You can use steel wool to add "age" or wear. I didn't do that on these two,however.
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Re: Cone Restoration Question: Gold Lids

#10

Post by Wheaton »

Been a long time since I started this thread - just now finished reading it! (D'oh.) Got lost in the 2013 shuffle somewhere.

Barry, those cones do look awesome. Not as if we hadn't all figured it out yet, but you have a gift! I remember starting this by thinking about bulb top HPs specifically - all of the original market bulbs had gold spouts. Most were metallic gold with varnished or lacquered appearances, though a few (usually Schlitz) had more of a matte spray-paint look to them. I've also seen this on some scattered standard HPs with gold and silver spouts, and I don't know why they were produced that way. The paint job on them is so heavy that they may even come out of dumps all shiny-looking though the cans they're attached to are turds. They'd probably be pretty easy even for me to approximate. But what you've pictured is fairly close to what I was after for the more typical appearance.

If I give one a try at some point I may contact you for dumbed-down, Romper Room-style instructions.
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Re: Cone Restoration Question: Gold Lids

#11

Post by Barry Travis »

And you can hit them with a fine steel wool to give them a little age or wear.
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