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  • #1

    Aging Buttons

    Tried the search function and nothing came up of use, maybe there was a better way to word it. I have a new shell jacket and the buttons are nice and shinny, but I want to to use it for my midwar ANV impression, so I need to age my buttons, so I don't look like it was just issued that minute. Does anyone have an good ideas for ways to age their buttons in a short period of time? I don't want to bury them , urinate on them or wear the jacket for months on end, or leave it outside that long. :) any information would be helpful.

    Thanks!
    Robert Ambrose

    Park Ranger
    Fort Frederick State Park, Maryland
    5th Virginia Infantry Co. K
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Aging Buttons

    Originally posted by ContinentalMorganGuard View Post
    Tried the search function and nothing came up of use, maybe there was a better way to word it. I have a new shell jacket and the buttons are nice and shinny, but I want to to use it for my midwar ANV impression, so I need to age my buttons, so I don't look like it was just issued that minute. Does anyone have an good ideas for ways to age their buttons in a short period of time? I don't want to bury them , urinate on them or wear the jacket for months on end, or leave it outside that long. :) any information would be helpful.

    Thanks!
    The best way to get your buttons on a new jacket out of that new shine stage is to polish them. I know that sounds silly but a lot of buttons come with a type of varnish on them and that kinda protects them from getting too dull. Take some brasso or never dull (a lot less messy) polish them up and wait they will start to get that worn look. The reason "pee" works is the amonia in urine, you could just put some amonia on them and avoid having to piss on your buttons. Hope that helps.
    Brandon English

    "There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell."--William T. Sherman

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    • #3
      Re: Aging Buttons

      Didn't soldiers receive new clothing during the war? Couldn't those buttons have been shiny? Mid-war or even late war does not translate automatically into faded clothing and tarnished buttons. New stuff was issued all the time. I'd leave them alone. In short order the shine comes off.
      Silas Tackitt,
      one of the moderators.

      Click here for a link to forum rules - or don't at your own peril.

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Aging Buttons

        To add what Silas' states, soldiers not on an active campaign were order to clean their buttons and other brasses as well as their weapons for the weekly parade - inspection.
        Brian Baird

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        • #5
          Re: Aging Buttons

          I agree with Silas.
          On another note, and correct me if I am wrong here, but wasn't the practice of polishing brass part of their regulations, especially for parade?
          Micah Trent
          Tar Water Mess/Mess No. 1
          Friends of Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: Aging Buttons

            LOL...never mind my post. Brian and I were thinking the same thing at the same time.:D
            Micah Trent
            Tar Water Mess/Mess No. 1
            Friends of Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: Aging Buttons

              Hallo!

              Just as an aside...

              IMHO, the larger issue is that with very few exceptions (Military Warehouse for example), reproduction buttons are highly machine polished and then "sealed" in what seems to be clear varnish to keep them "shiny" and non-tarnishing.

              To the best of my knowledge, CW era buttons were not sealed in clear varnish or sealant. Also, the Period means, materials, and practices of CW soldiers "polishing their brass" does not resemble the look of modern reproduction buttons.

              By stripping off the sealant, allowing the brass to age or patina naturally as they do when exposed to the environment and particulalry the sulphur in blackpowder smoke, and then maintaining accoutrement plates and buttons in a CW era manner- the "brass" looks more like CW brass and not modern sutlers' row brass.

              (IMHO stll... artifically chemically "aging" brass is another discussion that begins, but does not end, with having plates and buttons with a 140 years of patina on an otherwise brand new belt, box, or garment. :) :) )

              Others' mileage will vary...

              Curt
              Aging in reverse Benjamin Button Mess
              Curt Schmidt
              In gleichem Schritt und Tritt, Curt Schmidt

              -Hard and sharp as flint...secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.
              -Haplogroup R1b M343 (Subclade R1b1a2 M269)
              -Pointless Folksy Wisdom Mess, Oblio Lodge #1
              -Vastly Ignorant
              -Often incorrect, technically, historically, factually.

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: Aging Buttons

                Originally posted by Brian Baird View Post
                To add what Silas' states, soldiers not on an active campaign were order to clean their buttons and other brasses as well as their weapons for the weekly parade - inspection.
                Brian Baird
                It may be because Confederate letters and other sources are hard to find but I can't remember a single instance of reading about a Confederate soldier polishing and blacking his equipment for inspection while I have read many Union sources about getting ready for inspection. What I have read (and I can't remember where) was that there was a significance difference in the appearence of the men (CS) and equipment between regiments lead by old time regular army officers and volunteer officers.

                How about sources talking about CS inspections. Anybody have one handy?
                Jim Mayo
                Portsmouth Rifles, Company G, 9th Va. Inf.

                CW Show and Tell Site
                http://www.angelfire.com/ma4/j_mayo/index.html

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: Aging Buttons

                  I have on occasion aquired jackets and vests with no buttons and before sewing them on will take them outside and place them face up in loose soil. after that I'll cover them with some black powder and carefully flash them. Although they may not have the patina that you are looking for, it does put them well on their way to that look. The flash off is kinda cool too. Just don't overdo the black powder. It's an explosive don't ya know! Kevin Hanson
                  Kevin Hanson

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                  • #10
                    Re: Aging Buttons

                    Hallo!

                    Moderator hat on...

                    "that look"?

                    That look CW soldiers had on their buttons after they burned blackpowder on them?

                    ??

                    Curt
                    Curt Schmidt
                    In gleichem Schritt und Tritt, Curt Schmidt

                    -Hard and sharp as flint...secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.
                    -Haplogroup R1b M343 (Subclade R1b1a2 M269)
                    -Pointless Folksy Wisdom Mess, Oblio Lodge #1
                    -Vastly Ignorant
                    -Often incorrect, technically, historically, factually.

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: Aging Buttons

                      Whatever happened to letting them age naturally, instead of "artificially" trying to acquire a campaigned in look.... ?
                      Tom "Mingo" Machingo
                      Independent Rifles, Weevil's Mess

                      Vixi Et Didici

                      "I think and highly hope that this war will end this year, and Oh then what a happy time we will have. No need of writing then but we can talk and talk again, and my boy can talk to me and I will never tire of listening to him and he will want to go with me everywhere I go, and I will be certain to let him go if there is any possible chance."
                      Marion Hill Fitzpatrick
                      Company K, 45th Georgia Infantry
                      KIA Petersburg, Virginia

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Re: Aging Buttons

                        Tom Machingo, Silas, Curt, and a few others have covered the bases pretty well on this.

                        "What is understood need not be discussed"
                        Eddie Van Halen, 1991
                        John Wickett
                        Former Carpetbagger
                        Administrator (We got rules here! Be Nice - Sign Your Name - No Farbisms)

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