Hi Mates,
I took advantage of the weekend, and started a lengthy deep cleaning of my recent acquisition that I am still very excited about. Below are some of the photos of the engine before and during cleanup. Other posts will follow, and I hope that you enjoy them.
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Awesome acquisition Mike.
That's got some size to it, nice plant Mike & cleaned up well. I don't believe I've seen that 'tuning fork' style frame before.
Nice work. Good to see it left in a natural state, as opposed to being over restored. How was the Gruener (did you open it to celebrate?)
Thanks fellows. it has been a long working week, and now back to the restoration. Beforehand; I would like to wish all of you a great Memorial Day Weekend; and the highest tributes to our healthcare workers who are still working hard to save lives through this years' Memorial day.
Below is what I did so far just cleaning up a century of gunk gently; which revealed some amazing Nickel plating underneath the hardened steam oil. It was very time consuming, but rewarding. Now the question that arises; do I restore the Nickel Plating or not? more to come
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Personally, I would leave it as is. If you redo the plating it might not look right with the patina of the rest of it. It looks great as is.
Personally, I would leave it as is. If you redo the plating it might not look right with the patina of the rest of it. It looks great as is.
I think Tommy's nailed it , its kind of a all or nothing resto, the paint will be lost in the recess's of the piece.
If you can get your nickel work to look old or a little dull, it would look nice. If your new plating will look too fresh and shiny, then might be best to just clean it really well.
Very nice piece!
I listened to the wise advice from everyone including my internal voice to leave the Nickel Plating as is. Thanks for helping me with the final decision. I noticed something interesting on this machine during the cleanup; every piece on the machine including the boiler door, crank shaft, eccentric, Cast Iron safety valve...etc have the number 11 embossed on the metal; which makes me believe that this is machine number 11 of this model. Below are some of these stamped numbers on the different parts; it's also a good indication that the boiler and engine belongs together having the same number. More to come
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Matching number's is a good way to show authenticity and pride in workmanship. Like a fine tuned hand made custom firearm.
Very cool Mike.
This one is a real treasure.
What are the dimensions of the boiler and engine?
What a great setup.
Title mentions Carette but doesn't look a Carette but a much more sophisticated setup that a tin toy.
I have gotten nickel with grudge cleaner by socking in acetone than blasted with a garden hose. City supplied water is at least 80# of pressure, just need to cover painted areas and
of course need to liberally apply oil.
What a great setup.
Title mentions Carette but doesn't look a Carette but a much more sophisticated setup that a tin toy.
I have gotten nickel with grudge cleaner by socking in acetone than blasted with a garden hose. City supplied water is at least 80# of pressure, just need to cover painted areas and
of course need to liberally apply oil.
Bigal, I know that the majority of the collectors have never seen in the flesh what a real large Carette looks like; maybe that's why you did not realize that Carette is more than just a Tin toy company. I am posting some photos of few Cast Iron engine driven models Carette made as well as a photo of the largest Carette vertical they made next to a Stuart V10 for size comparison. I am still working on that restoration, but for now South Philadelphia neighborhood watch takes priority after work.
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HOLY COW MIKE!! That is HUGE!! Are you sure that Stuart wasn't built by George Britnell??
Please post more pictures when you have time
