Resources for screw restoration

[JohnC]

@nickelsilverok thanks, good to know.

[oldhippy]

You should always finish with burnishing. If done correctly there won't be any marks on the head.  

[praezis]

18 hours ago, nickelsilver said:

That's just my opinion though.

Not only your's

Usually disregarded: most watch screws from the last century were nickel plated. Polishing will remove this protecting coat and make the screws ready to rust.

If possible, I sort e.g. bridge screws and place the worst ones in hidden places.

Frank

[oldhippy]

You are hardly going to clean up screws that are nickel plated for starters you should see past the plating to reveal what is underneath normally it will be brass if the screw has been buried.   I think here we have been discussing steel screws, I know I have.   

[JohnC]

Yes, that was certainly my intention. For example, I am currently working on a Russian Vostok 2809. The standard of finishing is fairly low and I doubt the screws are plated. The barrel arbor screw is badly bruised, and is quite unsightly. It would be nice to have a standard practice just to clean up steel screws, short of a full restoration and black polishing, as this level of finishing is not really necessary or appropriate on a movement like this.

[praezis]

@ oldhippy

Of course I am talking of steel screws. Brass screws won't rust afaik

Frank

[oldhippy]

2 hours ago, praezis said:

@ oldhippy

Of course I am talking of steel screws. Brass screws won't rust afaik

Frank

Really I would never have guessed.  

[nickelsilver]

I know a lot of modern screws are plated, but older (pre 70s?) in my experience are bare steel. You can see on some modern watches with blued screws that the top of the head has been polished and then the screw blued ending up with a nice blue head and white slot .