I am trying to keep the period patina to this rebuild project. As the work goes along, what is the best treatment for the fasteners so maybe they will survive another 50 yrs.? Thanks in advance for any input.
Cheers, Dave
• The patina on the fasteners themselves is most probably cadmium plating. That will usually stay on for decades. Cadmium is a heavy metal poison, and so the number of platers qualified to apply it have been reduced. But you will still see it done to support aircraft repair. It's typically done by the lot, so it's not worth doing 5-10 fasteners, only a complete bike's worth. Small bits like washers should be strung together on a piece of bare steel wire in a necklace fashion, or they will be lost during tumble cleaning.
• The most important thing you can do day-to-day is to use "box-end" hand wrenches, and 6-point sockets. These reduce the wear on the fastener heads to nearly zero.
Hope this helps.
Owning an old Airhead is easy.
Keeping an old Airhead running great is the true test.
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