Restoration & Repair

Pot metal restoration is necessary when deterioration is beyond removal by our standard process. Pot metal is made up of several common metals such as zinc, lead, copper, tin, magnesium, iron, and cadmium all combined and formed into cast items such as emblems. Pitting is the most common in these pieces along with internal corrosion of the metal, which leads to the “flaking” of decorative chrome plating. For this reason the process of plating pot metal can be very time consuming just in the restoration process. Restoring the surface will require an acid copper layer to be applied along with a re-sanding process. Remaining imperfections are then identified such as pits, scratches, or low areas. Low areas are then silver soldered and then “cut down” to match the copper surface and re-plated again in an acid copper bath. This process can happen several times to achieve the required finish.