Following on from my previous post and with the handle screws both removed it was time to get down to the nitty gritty and see what I could do with the finish of the kettle.

From looking around online I noticed that most, if not all of the Picquot ware kettles had a great, polished, highly reflective mirror finish. This is obviously achieved by a lot elbow grease and polishing. Now, an issue with my kettle as I briefly touched on in my last post is the corrosion and more so the pitting which is a direct result from living by the sea for decades.

Starting with the lid (the smallest part….LOL) I used a fine (read 600 grit) wet and dry sandpaper but quickly noticed it was not abrasive enough due to the depth of the pitting, so I worked my way down basically to 120 grit and then back up again to finish off with 800 grit wet and dry before using autosol metal polish to achieve a great reflective finish.

As you can see in the photos there still is some pitting to the surface of the lid, and will always be until you really removed a decent amount of material from the surface (perhaps 0.10 – 0.20mm). This is definitely doable, however it will just take a fair………or great deal of time.

With the lid polished I was about to make a start on the body when I came to the realisation that I should leave it possibly as a project for a future owner, plus I really like the contrast between the old, dull and corroded body and the bright, vibrantly restored lid.

Before I reattached the handles I gave them a good oil with some Scandinavian Teak Oil which definitely helped to rejuvenate the tired timber. A little neverseize on the handle screws to try and prevent them from seizing up again and the kettle was back together.

Overall I think the kettle turned out pretty great. From walking away from it once at a garage sale in a far away coastal town, to it now sitting on display in our kitchen this piece will be sure to hang around another 50+ years.

Sometimes you walk away from an item, and question whether or not you’re doing the right thing. This can be said about this great kettle I came across at a garage sale on a recent holiday.

Looking pretty dirty and rough I had a quick look at it, noticed it’s interesting shape I thought to myself ‘you don’t really need another 50’s kettle do you?’ Well at that stage I didn’t, so I put it back down and continued to have a quick browse of the garage sale. Spotting nothing else of interest I turned and started to head back to the car and as you do (or as I do) when leaving a sale  you turn and have one last glance to make sure you haven’t overlooked anything.  Again, my eyes were drawn to the weighty aluminum kettle I earlier had picked up.

I turned around and slowly meandered back to the kettle and again picked it up and ran my eye over it. Still with a little self doubt on the actual ‘need’ for it I again almost put it down, however it’s interesting and smooth flowing shape got the better of me, so out came my wallet, leaving it a little lighter and away I went, kettle now in hand.

Once home (home) the search for information began, and to my surprise after trying various spelling variations on the Picquot name (slight corrosion and marking to the base made the makers mark had to read) up came the Picquotware K3 kettle along with it’s illustrious history. Read more here – http://www.picquotware.co.uk/history/

Now that the kettle had been identified, it was time to clean it up as you can see, the salty sea breeze had not been kind the magnesium/aluminium alloy. Another issue was the removal of the handle screws. Any type of steel screw/bolt into an alloy is going to create a drama, and this was the exact drama that I faced. Not wanting to snap off the handle screws I sprayed a little penetrant (WD-40 CRC 556 etc) under the wooden handles in hope it would soak into the thread and help loosen any corrosion between the 2 metals. I left this over night and by the morning both screws came out easily – crisis averted!

Polishing and reassembly in part 2!