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How to remove BP Coating from Dirilyte
Q. How can I remove the Bonded Protectorant (BP) coating on Dirilyte (nickel-bronze) flatware?
Alfred M. Baggett- Memphis, Tennessee, USA
2002
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Ed. note: Readers may also be interested in these related threads about Dirilyte:
- letter 7137 on Cleaning and Polishing
- letter 2931 on Restoring Dirilyte that was dishwashered
Q. My name is Diane Plummer from Alton, IL, across the river from St.Louis, MO. My Aunt willed me her set of Dirilyte when she passed on in 1964. It is a large set in that I have many of the accent pieces as well as the flatware. It had a BP finish on it when I received it and after 10 years, it was beginning to show scratches as well as the hue was appearing much darke; not shinny gold like when I received it. I packed up the entire set, took it to the Dirilyte Factory in Kokomo, IN, had them strip off the old BP finish, polish the pieces, & apply a new BP coating. The set was beautiful. However, it is now some 35+ years later, and the pieces show wear & have turned a darker hue, once again. I would like to clean & polish it, but cannot with the BP finish. My question is- HOW DO I GET THE BP FINISH OFF? I assume the factory in Warsaw no longer offers this service. Too bad, there was probably a lot of money in it.
Thanks a Million'
Diane
Hobbyist - Home Owner - Alton, Illinois
March 28, 2011
My Dirilyte BP finish is cracking and failing. How can it be removed so that I can polish it?
Robert Etienne- Ashland, Oregon USA
December 27, 2014
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Ed. note: Diane and Robert -- We inserted your questions into an older thread which already answered them, but feel free to follow up with further questions if necessary.
Reprinted with permission of Howard County Museum.
They're still (Mar. 2011) collecting; help if you can.
A. I've removed it with jeweler's rouge (polishing/buffing compound) [affil links] (while reconditioning) on a buffing wheel -- seems to work best after rubbing down with 0000 #0000 steel wool [on eBay or Amazon] -- a little labor intensive but it does a thorough job. A marine/epoxy stripper also seems to work but actually takes longer and is messier.
Mark Osterhus- Seattle, Washington
2002
A. I purchased 25 pieces from the 1960's that were in bad shape with peeling BP coating. I used White Diamond metal polish [linked by editor to info on Amazon] / white rouge [affil links] and a bench grinder with a felt buffing wheel. They now are beautiful. Took about 4 hours total.
Julie S Freigang- Kalamazoo, Michigan
2002
A. Go to Sears and purchase their paint and varnish remover. Wear rubber rubber gloves [on eBay or Amazon] when handling this product. Take a cotton ball and apply some of the paint and varnish remover to the Dirilyte pieces. Let stand for about five minutes then rinse off with cold water. After removing the protectorant, polish with Happich Simichrome [on eBay or Amazon] Polish.
Mike Gardner- Kokomo, Indiana
2002
How to remove engraving from Dirilyte tray?
Q. Is there any way to remove engraving from a Dirilyte tray?
gail jacobs- wolfeboro New Hampshire
June 2, 2014
A. Hi Gail. Short of polishing down all the metal in the surrounding area to the same depth, I don't know of any way. But good luck.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
May 2014
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