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THE BIG SAILING SHIPS - WHAT THEY LOOKED
LIKE BEFORE AND AFTER RESTORATION The following photos
show the terrible condition of all the sailing ships pictured in the next few pages. I took pictures of all of them in the
"before" stage, but somehow lost some of these photos. Take my word for it - all the sailing ships looked as bad
as this. My issues here were many - first, I had never done this type of work before. Research in methods to clean, products
to use, and techniques to employ had to be done. I reached out on the web to people who do this stuff all the time. For help,
I contacted people in places like Malta, South Africa, and Spain. You will see from the shots of the ships in my shop that
I used every type of wood and cleaning products, as well as tools from high pressure air to Q-tips, to get the job done. I
used everything I had in my arsenal and then some. I was so tempted to just throw the ships in the shower and just rinse
them down with hot water, but the wood and sails were so dry, and the rigging so dry and fragile, I was afraid of what the
water would do.
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Another issue is that this was not just dust - It was years of dust, then grease, then dust, then
grease and so on. Kitchen fumes, kitchen grease, cigarette and cigar smoke, years and years of dust...all had contributed
to a daunting task. Just hitting the dust with high pressure air was not enough. I used combinations of products and applications
to get the ships clean enough to start restoring the wood - I used a shop vac, a mini vac, degreasers, brushes, Q-tips, sponges,
paper towels, compressed air - you name it.
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Above and Below: These pictures
are of the two "Big" ships - the two that were 3 times the size of the rest. Both were made in Germany and signed
by the same builder...but no date. These ships were twins, sister ships as it were, but for one distinction. One flew the
Pirate flag, one flew a national flag. Both ships were simply disgustingly filthy. However, in terms of actual damage, like
broken yardarms, rigging or the like - these ships required much less repair time than the others. However, in terms of cleaning
time, it was triple the other ships and then some.
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Below:
THE FINISHED PRODUCT - Quite a difference, yes? Patience does pay off. The ship has new life. She's vibrant, clean,
and ready for display. New stain, varnish, some touch up paint...after a good 40 hours or more on each of the big ships,
they're now back at Old Europe Restaurant in Washington, DC.
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BELOW: The War Room with the vast array of products
I used on this project. The larger ship is on the table - she's almost ready to go. A small portion of my hundreds
of reference books are on the wall.
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