This blog describes the methods I use to restore head badges. First let me say I do this is a last resort when either I can’t find another badge or the badge is too expensive to replace. The badge I’m doing for this blog is a fairly scarce private label badge (Cardinal) used by the Guarantee Bicycle Co. that was located in St. Louis, MO. I will use this badge on a ’49 Schwinn Autocycle (B6) that I will restore one day.
A lot of the tips and tricks I use for head badges comes from over 50 years of building model cars. Like most things this takes practice and patience. If you try to skimp on either of these the results will likely not be satisfactory. Another thing to note is that the etched or embossed badges are easier to restore than those with printed lettering which will either require professional equipment or at the very least having a custom waterslide decal made. I suggest you practice a few times on an old badge so you get a feel for what works and what don’t for you.
The first step is to make sure the badge is straight. Set it against a headtube and see that it fits correctly. Now is the time to adjust (bend) it if needed. After you are satisfied its ok you need to strip the exisitng finish.
This is what the badge looked like after the black was stripped off. Notice more of a gold color where the paint was over the brass. This is due to the exposed areas oxidizing.
For the next step I polished the entire badge. You could also use some white vinegar and water or soak in lemon juice for a bit to remove the oxidization before polishing to make it faster. I wasn’t too concerned with this because the recessed surfaces were going to be covered by paint.
Because the primary color covered a large portion of the badge I decided to mask and spray the black. A couple of notes here. You could very well just use a brush and something like sign painters One Shot enamel. The tricky part here is reducing the paint enough to get it to flow out well without leaving brush marks. I chose a spray laquer which introduces its own problems which I’ll discuss in a moment. I used purple painters tape due to its translucent qualities and its pretty thin compared to traditional masking tape so it lays down well.
Next is to trim where you don’t want painted. The key here is a very sharp exacto blade. I use a fresh blade when I do this. Also you young folks may get away with doing this without assistance but I use a jewelers visor to help these 61 year old eyes out!
Like I said before I used a spray black laquer. Once I removed the tape I carefully used an exacto blade to removed the black off the lettering/raised areas. I mentioned a problem using laquer and that is it is a lot more brittle than enamel and prone to chipping when you are removing the paint. The trick here is to work the blade to the inside of where you are removing the paint. To avoid this you could use and airbrush to shoot some enamel. I don’t recommend aerosol enamels because the generally go on too thick.
This is only a two color badge and I could have masked it again to shoot the red. I didn’t do this because you risk lifting the black. I have used frisket paper which doesn’t have as much adhesion but in the interest of time on this one I decided just to paint the red with a brush. I did go with a model enamel here but One Shot is always a good choice as well. The model paint is a lot easier to get and much more affordable if you don’t use One Shot often. On the top right pic you can see the red has been trimmed whereas the bottom right “CARDINAL” lettering hasn’t.
I trimmed the red with an exacto knife–you are basically, very carefully, scraping away paint (remember the patience part) revealing the brass again (same as I did the black). Once I did this I carefully wet sanded the large exposed brass area to removed any scrape marks left by the blade and polished again. This brings up another point. Some say they have success using a fine sandpaper 600/800 grit on a board and remove the paint off the high areas instead of using an exacto knife. I have done this but the problem is you run the risk of sanding into the ‘field’ and it is also tough to get the paint uniformly off the small letters on this badge. I suggest you experiment and see what works best for you depending on the badge you are doing. Lastly I shot a light coat of clear lacquer. I still need to lightly wet sand and polish this badge but I like to let the lacquer set for a couple of days before doing this.
Enjoy the Ride–Shawn
