"Original Unrestored" PATINA HOW-TO, By SHAW, W/PICS! (not the worn brush paint type)

Good point, I can appreciate the man's talent, but don't understand the customers desire. To each his own. I sure would like a bike like that, with shiny paint.

 

Well.. I thought this might happen.

Thanks Ryan for trying to hold order.. and letting both side be heard.

As for the suggestions.. I appreciate them all and pay attention to them.

I stated that this job was only 99% complete.. I spent a couple more hours today on it. I dulled the shinny areas, softened the harsh scratches and made some rust.

Then I got home and read this, and smiled. Good suggestions guys, and I agreed.

As for all the pro/con talk.. It dosen't matter to me much.
IT'S WHAT THE CUSTOMER WANTED. IT'S NO DIFFERENT than a guy showing up to your shop with a hand full of CASH and wanting his bike painted PINK. You might not agree with it, you might tell him how dumb it is, and that "You'd never do that to your bike"... but does that make him wrong?

I know some of you will pop up with the "My names on the building and I won't do it" Thats fine.. I have a little of that in me too.. But that guy will go to the next place down the road.. Thats what you have to think about.

Those of you that actually know me, or have spent any time around me know.. I'M ALL FOR EARNING SCARS. I'm also ALL FOR paying the bills...

for those of you who it helped, inspired or just showed you that you were on the right track.. GOOD DEAL!!

Thats why I posted it.

Thanks,

Joshua Shaw

Oh.. and the sharpie marker signature is buried in clear. As for the other signatures that I put on it.. Only I know what they are...

 

It's an excellent job man! I can dig it. I probably would not have doen that myself. Because I think it's wrong? No. Because I would have had no idea how to do it as well as you have. Thanks for sharing.

Whether it fits a persons personal taste or not shouldn't be the point. The point should be that to everything there is a process. I prefer to take a deeper look at the steps of the process, work involved, and attention to detail and admire the talent involved regardless of whether I agree with the final outcome or not.

 

Yea that's one thing I don't like about this board. There is definetly not a consistency when it comes to subjects such as this

Couldn't have said it better myself

This is really well said. I don't like the patina look, but this guy did a good job at what he was trying to do. I would never do it to something I owned but I don't care that other people do, I don't want everyone to do what I would then my stuff wouldn't be as cool to me.

 

My comment was not directed at you Ryan, I've never seen you flame anyone for what you don't like on their car. I can appreciate the art of creating the patina too. Its just the fact that this guy get almost nothing but praise and a FNG who talks about patina on his car gets almost nothing but everyone talking shit. But, thats not what this thread is about, so back to your regularly scheduled program.

 

I will put "patina" on anyones car or motorcycle, all you have to do is leave the car/motorcycle at my shop with the keys, and come back in 1 year. Hell I ll even do it for free

 

It's simple, really - using your example, if an FNG comes on & says, "Look what I did to my car, what do you think?" - he's asking for opinions, and if he hung around here long enough, he shouldnt' be surprised when he gets mobbed.

This post was completely different. A customer wanted this done and Josh took the time to document it & show progress and results. It was a "how to" not a "what do you think" piece.

So you have to look at the subject, not the subject matter necessarily. What if you had an awesome barn find with one crumpled fender & instead of a repaint, you wanted to fix that fender & match it as best you could to the rest? This is the kind of tech you'd need to do that.

I know of a serious metal refurb going on right now - seen some impressive pics (and the vehicle in person). The guy in question is leery about posting it on the main board because it's an o/t car for this forum. I say post it - tech is tech whether you use it or not. Replacing panels & welding structure is applicable regardless of car type. I think most would agree.

This is the same deal. If fake patina is not your deal, that's cool - I think the majority on here aren't really into that. This was a tech post, not an opinion poll.

 

Like I said earlier, very cool work, and if the guy who contracted you to do it is wanting it done...Thats cool...specially as its a high $$$ bike!

He's got bigger ones than me!

 

Thanks for sharing. You might be interested in an "aged" bike called "Mala Suerte"... Check it out from here: http://www.flyingchoppers.com/ --> Building bikes

The bike has even won "the best paint" couple times. It's really cool, even though its a "fake"...


--mika

 

Even if you don't "understand it" this dude got mad talent.

Thanks for the "how to" on that process.**

Paco

** The picture of the fender under my pen name "PACO" is one on my 46 coupe. No chains, hammers or vise grips were hurt during the 60 yrs. of natural patina it recv'd.
95% of the people that see it ask "what color are you going to paint it?" My reply is it has original paint!!

 

Josh I dig the work you did on the bike, and on your other projects. People should see it for what it is. Art / a How-to. Not as the taboo some make Patinaing something out to be.

 

I think the biggest thing about this post is that Josh not only signed the work the way he did, but that he owned up to it.

Great work Josh.

To me, this is much like us stripers who recreate our old friend Rat Fink. How many of us follow Ed's wishes;if we insist on recreating it, (and we all know Ed wasn't big on that), we sign it with a copyright C and HIS name only.

There are proper ways of doing things and Josh proved his knowledge in this arena as well.

Vance

 

Josh...amazing work..you sure mastered the art..I was amazed at the first time I saw your Dads tailgate when you where experimenting the process...thanks for sharing with us.. you are one freaking talented guy..

the art of patina is nothing new.. it goes back centuries in art and furniture making.. making a work look old added a warmth to it..not a cold harsh new look..so I see nothing wrong with owning a patina piece.. not an easy thing to do..

To all the qualified critic's out there, I say get a life..what makes our hobby so great is that everyone has a different vision of the final work..and they should be accepted and appreciated in every form, otherwise we all be looking like a restorers club with all the same factory look..pretty boring I say..

thanks again Josh...

I been wanting to do this on a woodie body but never had the guts..maybe I will
(done the patina thing to a bunch of furniture but never a rolling wood box..)

 

Kinda neat.

Talented artwork.

Patina happens.

My red oxide primer from the factory Brookville 31 A roadster seems to gain more patina every day.
It's dusty, I store some things on the trunk lid and sail panel.
Dragging it off makes nice fine scratches as well as a couple of deeper ones.

Toss in some practice pinstriping along with a couple places that were hit with white paint when the magazine "pallette" blew off the little work bench.
One was cleaned up with mineral spirits right away.
The other went un-noticed since it was behind the little workbench.
Hitting it with lacquer thinner and a single edge razor blade removed most of the paint, but the primer stayed ok.
Looks a little rough in some places.

You can't really call my roadster patina'd, natural or otherwise.

Does have a lot of shop rash though....

 

Looks great Josh. I appreciate the work and the look.
Your very talented.

 

So this bike went from fake (incorrect) paint and authentic patina, to authentic (correct) paint and fake patina.

Kind of cancels-out.

 

Neat Tech show. Thanks Josh.

I've had the privilege to repair a few original muzzleloading rifles back in Ohio and know what you mean about finding the line between new/old. Refurbishing is an art and you are mastering it. Nice to see somebody use their imagination for a change.

 

That motor wouldn't look out of place in a painted chassis at all.

It's nothing personal. I've seen your work and talked with you several times... I respect the hell out of you.

I have been restoring my 1912 Harley on and off for the past 5 years. Same basic situation... restored back in the 60's when people werent as concerned with how correct it was. Ran and drove fine, but it needed to be correct. There are so few of those motorcycles in existance, that for preservation sake, they should be restored correctly, or not at all. It's not just some Model A body with the paint rubbed through to the primer to look old... that's a piece of history.

Your paintwork looked flawless, and for that guy to want that weathered look just seems like insanity to me. I mean, when it's that far along, you may as well spend the extra couple of grand and have the plating done (if it even really needs it) I mean, from a historical standpoint, how is that any more correct than how it was before?

But whatever, I guess that's not what the post was about.

Good job. It looks like a Harley that should be restored.

 

I think it's cool that the owner spent an extra couple grand with Josh to make it look like a Harley that should be restored.

I'd love to see a few more pics of the bike after Josh went back & finished it up.

JH

 

Interesting read and great photos. Thanks for sharing. And yes, it is an ancient thread that was brought back to the surface.

 

Excellent job,josh. Thanks for sharing some of your knowledge and talent. Those that don't understand, you would never be able to explain it to them anyway! Keep up the good work.

 

It takes a craftsman to create a fake, but it is still a fake.
Like the post above says, I don't understand it.
Kinda like that rusty fiberglass Willys.

 

Nobody loves original patina more then I do.
Thanks for sharing your techniques.
These techniques come in very handy to restore an area or make a repair to an original patina bike or car.

 

thats awesome

 

@Malcolm , This is the post that I was talking about.

Chris

 

Great how-to and pointers -- Thanks! @sodbuster and @Joshua Shaw

 

Another great thread ruined by "photobucket"

 

Photobucket is the HAMB's patina