Restoration Antique Samovar - Turning Junk Into Treasure

Restoration Antique Samovar - Turning Junk Into Treasure. Hi! Today I’m showing a unique and extremely rare restoration of a genuine 19th-century antique samovar, as it should be — from the city of Tula. Tula samovars are very popular and well-known. I acquired this particular piece in a remote village: someone was cleaning out an old shed and found it in terrible condition. I had little experience with such items, but I had the desire to restore it — and I did. Let’s dive into the process, and I’ll explain in detail how it was done. First, I started by disassembling the samovar. It wasn’t easy: everything was covered in rust and patina, with a lot of dust and dirt. The rust was so severe that even the thin pins in the handles had corroded. In addition, some parts were broken or missing: the handle, the coal damper, and the pipe was rotten. In other words, the samovar was about 90% damaged. The first step after disassembly was removing the old edible tin, which was originally used for soldering the samovar’s parts. Using a standard gas torch, I carefully removed the excess tin and separated the main components. For cleaning, I used hot water, cleaning powders, lemon acid, and sponges. To restore two or three damaged parts, I had to find suitable replacements from other samovars. Part of the pipe was rotten, and another part was very thin. The inner section, which holds the “zalu,” was made of cast iron, but it had completely deteriorated. So when purchasing replacement parts, I made sure this element was included. Special attention was required for the lower part of the samovar: it was either missing or in very poor condition. Recreating it from scratch was impossible without special equipment, so I bought three necessary parts, each of which had its own defects. I had to resolder the lower section, restore the tin on the pipe, and clean the part that holds the main body of the samovar. There was a lot of work. Once all the parts were ready, I proceeded with tinning — applying edible tin to the main components: the heating pipe and the samovar body. After tinning, everything is carefully washed with cleaning powder and baking soda. I also restored the broken part of the tap and added the missing element. Then I resoldered the tap itself and installed a rivet. After that, I gradually reassembled the samovar. The restoration took a lot of time, but the process was incredibly interesting. You can see all the additional details in the video. If you have any questions, be sure to write. Don’t forget to share the video, hit the like button, and leave your comments. If you like this piece, you can also reach out to me on Facebook or Instagram — worldwide shipping is available. Thank you! Sincerely, Alex. Thanks for attention! Good luck and health to everyone! With best wishes, Alex! Please subscribe to my channel: @ScrewsAndTools 🍖 My New Cooking channel! @screwsandtoolscooking Patreon:   / screwsandtools   Paypal: paypal.me/screwsandtools Facebook:   / scresandtools   Instagram:   / screwsandtools   ko-fi.com/screwsandtools #screwsandtools #antique #restoration