OT: Vintage engraved pushbuttons

I used to dig out the old paint with a scriber or such, paint over the letters with a small paint brush (of the artistic variety) then with a cloth stretched very tight over a finger and just damp with thinners gently wipe the surface a few times to remove the paint on the surface of the button leaving the residue in the printing.

Start with wax or silicone polish on the surface, then clean out the grooves and re-paint, the polish will prevent staining of the surface when you wipe the excess paint away.

Check out "Lacquer-Stik". It's a solid-paint crayon, designed to brighten up engraved or stamped lines.

I've used it to renew the engraved markings in a plastic-body slide rule.

Renewing means new paint. Clean out as much of the old paint as possible with a dental pick and brush. Polish the bakelite surface BEFORE re-painting. Make sure there's no grease, wax, sweat, or filth in the engraved depressions. Slop on some enamel model paint and quickly wipe the knob clean. If you make a mess, clean the knob with solvent and try again. The reason you want to polish the knob first is that if there are any cuts, gouges, or grooves in the knob surface, the paint will also fill them.

If you don't want to use paint, I've found the white "correction fluid" works fairly well if the engraving is reasonably deep. If it somehow wears off, just slop some more on. I use this for radios where I don't want to ruin the resale value by changing the appearance.

Note: I'm partial to glow in the dark acrylic phosphorescent paint for pointers:

The usual solution for restoring faded or worn markings on engraved knobs and panels is a Lacquer Stick, such as the one on Amazon:

Cheers, Dave M

Sparky wrote: