Toning down metal buckles:

Ionic · 21st September 2003, 19:29

I have a couple of pairs of block heeled buckle loafers for 'going out' in.
It might be nice to tone the metal of the buckle down a bit to a pewter sort of look.
I don't think my Stovax black graphite grate polish will quite do!!! Good for blacking the trouser turnups perhaps!!

Any further ideas? I rather think Hammerite is a bit extreme...

Dr. Shoe · 21st September 2003, 22:15

Without looking at the buckles I would assume that they are silver in colour.

I think the idea here is to tarnish the silver. Try some hydrochloric acid dabbed on with a cotton wool bud then rinsed off pretty smartish with plenty of water.

Bubba136 · 22nd September 2003, 03:34

Black flat spray paint.

Dr. Shoe · 22nd September 2003, 21:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bubba136

Black flat spray paint.

But without getting it on the leather eh?

Ionic · 23rd September 2003, 15:24

Thanks everyone, well for most of that anyway

,

Looking more closely, it seems on the rather too roomy sx9s the buckle is a plate which has the surface texture and colour of stainless steel but I rather think it is tinned brass seeing a hint of copper colour along one edge. At least we wont' need HF rather than HCl to etch stainless chemically!! Actually they are a tidy 3" block heel and almost pass for a male style anyway.

The other pair has a three link chain for the buckle, the metal of which is tinny feeling and sounding. This metal might be a light alloy, a scrapping test feels harder than Al but softer than mild steel.
They have a thick sole, almost an inch, and a very broad splayed 4ins block heel. I'm a bit concerned the heel is too obvious and that they are rather too 'schoolgirl' like, although they are extremely close fitting, hold firm and are fun to walk in. I haven't decided yet if they are too small but, hey, it's only £4.99 at stake here!!!

ed:/ that is GBP4.99; do our north American friends see the UK pound sign properly on their screens?

/I

Tom-NL · 23rd September 2003, 21:18

Ionic,

The best way to display "non-standard" characters on this forum is not by using the ASCII-values (since those can be different between codepages, e.g. £ is Alt-156 on codepages 437 (United States) and 850 (Multilingual), but Alt-163 on iso 8859-1 (Latin 1) and codepages 1004 (Windows Extended) and 1252 (Latin 1 Windows)).

To always display them correctly, use a corresponding code called the "numbered entity" or (in some cases) their equivalent "named entity". For the pound sign, the numbered entity to enter is # and the corresponding named entity to enter is £ .

You can find a list of values at http://www.htmlref.com/reference/AppC/standard.htm .

And now back to the regular program ;)

Dr. Shoe · 25th September 2003, 23:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom-NL

Ionic,

The best way to display "non-standard" characters on this forum is not by using the ASCII-values (since those can be different between codepages, e.g. £ is Alt-156 on codepages 437 (United States) and 850 (Multilingual), but Alt-163 on iso 8859-1 (Latin 1) and codepages 1004 (Windows Extended) and 1252 (Latin 1 Windows)).

To always display them correctly, use a corresponding code called the "numbered entity" or (in some cases) their equivalent "named entity". For the pound sign, the numbered entity to enter is # and the corresponding named entity to enter is £ .

You can find a list of values at http://www.htmlref.com/reference/AppC/standard.htm .

And now back to the regular program ;)

Eh!? Come again?

jo · 26th September 2003, 00:15

Or even better, and non-technical, just use the three-letter codes for representing currency as found in the ISO 4217 standard.

Bubba136 · 26th September 2003, 04:08

Tom, did we pay you for that commercial? :rofl:

Ionic · 8th October 2003, 14:03

Well, it had to be Hammerite in the end for the shiny chain buckle and no change at all for the duller flat buckle which is more masculine anyway to begin with.

There are clear instructions on the Hammerite NOT to dilute with thinners... ...so I had to experiment with doing so. The instructions are right, it doesn't work it just evaporates and then the paint layers shrink back into blobs. I rescued it ok but it is not as tidy as if I hadn't messed about.

It has to cure for a few weeks before I can touch it up as needed.

/I