Ted Chism
01-09-2012, 12:09 PM
Yesterday I hooked up with a guy in the local yard who is the unfortunate owner of a 1938 Chris Craft monster that has suffered from generational neglect and eventually been reduced to a pile of rot. So he is parting her out before the remains get hauled off to the pyre, and what I was fortunate enough to purchase at a very reasonable price are six Wilcox Crittenden 7' port lights. Course part of the deal was that I had to dig em out myself which was an interesting half day in itself. Big heavy beauties they are and are exactly the right size and number for the boat I am building.
However, these beauties are currently covered with 74 years worth of paint and crud and will definitely take some work before they sparkle in the morning sun again. So, is there some trick to cleaning these things, or am I stuck with endless hours of steel wool and a tooth brush? They are always spoken of as bronze port lights, but they appear, from what little I can see, to be made of some type of brass. Is there a type of paint stripper or some other concoction that works well here. What I am hoping for is to plunk them in a bucket of something and come back a week later and pull them out looking like new, but I suspect it isn't going to be that easy. (Though I have heard of anthropologist cleaning skulls utilizing a mound of ants or maggots. Do they make paint maggots?)
As always, all wisdom is appreciated.
However, these beauties are currently covered with 74 years worth of paint and crud and will definitely take some work before they sparkle in the morning sun again. So, is there some trick to cleaning these things, or am I stuck with endless hours of steel wool and a tooth brush? They are always spoken of as bronze port lights, but they appear, from what little I can see, to be made of some type of brass. Is there a type of paint stripper or some other concoction that works well here. What I am hoping for is to plunk them in a bucket of something and come back a week later and pull them out looking like new, but I suspect it isn't going to be that easy. (Though I have heard of anthropologist cleaning skulls utilizing a mound of ants or maggots. Do they make paint maggots?)
As always, all wisdom is appreciated.