I am in lockdown for the last week and thought it was time to fix up 2 French black marble clocks. I have seen restorations of these using slate black, however I feel that this is just like painting them so I gave polishing the marble a go. I will show one of the clocks as to how I did it and both at the end after I finished them.
This clock had bad pitting and needed a lot of sanding, started with 60 grit, 100, 180, 320, 500, 600, 800, 1000. I did it in sections finishing one before starting another and at the end used marble polish (Micra dust) and black boot polish. I also had to make a couple of end pices for the top as both had been smashed off and a join on the ledge where that had been broken off. I did one section with photos to show how it comes out.
This is what it looked like before I started.
Cut the edge with a dimond saw in a dremel, then fitted a piece to the ledge and the upright I made (the upright is just in place to show the differance).
Sanding the flat to get out the pitting, I will not put in ever grit just to show how it starts to show some reflection. I did not use an electric sander as I thought that if a piece of the marble got under it it would make even deeper scratches.
Polished with Micra Dust and then black boot polish.
And so on till the top section was done.
On the less pitted sections I started with 80 grit and went through the order. I could not get off the brass work and the capitals were steel, the rest was brass so I had to paint them, however I dabbed the paint with a short bristle brush to look more like gilding, and below is it finished. I took about 4 days of 6 hours a day to do the case, the movement was easy and took a few hours.
The other case did not have pitting, however it was baddly bleached and required the same work. At least the brass work was brass and I gave it a simpathetic polish to keep with the age of the clock.
The flash makes them look bad, they are better in real life. They have a glass finish that you could shave from your reflection. Although it takes a while they are the better for it. The door on the 2nd case is having the glass polished as it has some large scratches that is why it is missing in the last photo. Any questions just ask.
This clock had bad pitting and needed a lot of sanding, started with 60 grit, 100, 180, 320, 500, 600, 800, 1000. I did it in sections finishing one before starting another and at the end used marble polish (Micra dust) and black boot polish. I also had to make a couple of end pices for the top as both had been smashed off and a join on the ledge where that had been broken off. I did one section with photos to show how it comes out.
This is what it looked like before I started.
Cut the edge with a dimond saw in a dremel, then fitted a piece to the ledge and the upright I made (the upright is just in place to show the differance).
Sanding the flat to get out the pitting, I will not put in ever grit just to show how it starts to show some reflection. I did not use an electric sander as I thought that if a piece of the marble got under it it would make even deeper scratches.
Polished with Micra Dust and then black boot polish.
And so on till the top section was done.
On the less pitted sections I started with 80 grit and went through the order. I could not get off the brass work and the capitals were steel, the rest was brass so I had to paint them, however I dabbed the paint with a short bristle brush to look more like gilding, and below is it finished. I took about 4 days of 6 hours a day to do the case, the movement was easy and took a few hours.
The other case did not have pitting, however it was baddly bleached and required the same work. At least the brass work was brass and I gave it a simpathetic polish to keep with the age of the clock.
The flash makes them look bad, they are better in real life. They have a glass finish that you could shave from your reflection. Although it takes a while they are the better for it. The door on the 2nd case is having the glass polished as it has some large scratches that is why it is missing in the last photo. Any questions just ask.
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