Confederate Wreath

I received for restoration the brass wreath portion of a 2-piece CS belt rig that had a twist/bend/break and the collector asked that I perform the repair and restoration.

The challenge with these is threefold.  Bend out the brass without breaking and align the pieces.  Secondly, drill out cavities in both pieces in order to insert a shim to bridge for a strong connection. There is little brass to work with so the smallest of drill bits are used (breaking several in the process). Thirdly, matching the existing green where the repairs have been made.

Below are the results of several hours on the bench.

Some Christmas Eve Restorations

Seen in this picture is a Confederate forked tongue buckle and some other fine Civil War relics that came to me for repair and restoration.

The buckle frame, the only original piece, was without the bar and tongue when it arrived. It was also broken and in an ugly pretzel. Additionally, it was devoid of any consistent patina having been "roughed up" by the plow over so many years.  I straightened it out then made the bar and the tongue to fit and attached all.  I then gave it all a woods-dug look to bring it all together. That requires layering. As veteran collectors of dug relics know, there is a richness of that look that is difficult to replicate.

The two company letter M relics were broken and both were missing their narrow left legs, the most fragile part of the device. I fabricated, attached and then blended the repairs into the existing look of the relics as dug. The company letter A was broken as well. The trick, or challenge, as always, is how to camouflage break seams while maintaining the originality of the rest of the relic. Whereas I could pretty much go in any direction with the fork-tongue buckle, with the other items, an existing surface attesting to where they were recovered should be retained (my opinion).  That super light and soft crust coupled with the great condition of the brass under it makes me believe the letters are Richmond area finds.

The block I infantry button was in several pieces (five).  I put that puzzle back together, filled voids, added the back and as with the other relics blended the repairs in with oxides, dirt, dust and whatever else I felt would give it the right look. All in all, a dang good looking display... not destined for the island of misfit relics.

Two-Piece CS Cavalry Buckle Restoration

Here's a challenge. From a broken CS tongue and broken CS wreath, create one buckle that looks to be the original as-dug item. The pictures tell the sequence for this work. What is not included is the color matching techniques and the methods used to simulate ground action and oxidation. The CS disc and the keeper to be joined are period relics but did not come together. The keeper to be married to the wreath is from a reproduction. So we have three Civil War period relic pieces and one repro piece put together to make one complete relic.




Brass is filed away using a dremel then hand filed for exactness in order to install a bridge. In this repair it will be a brass shim.



A shim is fabricated from brass and placed in the notch created in the filing in the previous step. It is glued in place and brass filings are used to fill the voids while creating "ground" texture at the same time. It is filed flush with the surrounding surfaces.



The wreath's keeper is made from a reproduction buckle but has to be filed to the same dimensions as the tongue's keeper. Additionally, a section is cut away so that it can be married with the existing bar still part of the wreath. Shims are made and inserted into notches to provide strength.



To match the two pieces I have opted to go with the coloration of the CS tongue and use various powders and fixatives to get the wreath to match the tongue.

In the final steps, I tweak the hi-points with earth tones and the recesses with lighter "sand tones" to get some variation and contrast so that the relic has depth and doesn't appear flat all the while attempting to keep the relic looking fairly original to how it looked prior to my work.



If this buckle interests you it is for sale at this time. However, as part of the sale, the purchaser must sign agreement that any future movement (sale) of this item must be accompanied with full disclosure of the repairs performed including these pictures which I will include with the relic.