I wanted to share a good technique that I came up with for fading a bezel insert fairly quickly and most importantly, without removing the insert. It takes a little patience because it's not instant, but the results are pretty good.
I used 2000 grit sandpaper for this project. I thought it would make sense to cut the sandpaper into strips that were curved to the bezel shape and this turned out to work very well. As you can see in the first picture, I cut an approximately 1-1.5 cm section of sandpaper which has a slight curve on both sides. You want it to be about the width of the insert.
Initially, I tried using my finger to move the sandpaper back and forth, but this didn't work very well, as the paper kept slipping off my finger. Using tape is tedious and was leaving stick residue on the bezel after a couple passes.
The best way I found was to get a pensil (with a new eraser that is flat) and use that to apply the force to the sandpaper. Because it's 2000 grit, this will take some time. You'll have to cut new strips of sandpaper after about a minute of sanding, as it wears out real fast. I had to redo this process about 10 times to get the resuly you see here. It is very subtle, but that is exactly what I was going for. Most gens are not completely destroyed like some people like to recreate. The good examples have a slight fade from 40 years of sun damage and friction from cleaning and polishing.
It actually looks better in person. These pictures don't quite capture the fading as it really is.
Let me know what you think!
I used 2000 grit sandpaper for this project. I thought it would make sense to cut the sandpaper into strips that were curved to the bezel shape and this turned out to work very well. As you can see in the first picture, I cut an approximately 1-1.5 cm section of sandpaper which has a slight curve on both sides. You want it to be about the width of the insert.
Initially, I tried using my finger to move the sandpaper back and forth, but this didn't work very well, as the paper kept slipping off my finger. Using tape is tedious and was leaving stick residue on the bezel after a couple passes.
The best way I found was to get a pensil (with a new eraser that is flat) and use that to apply the force to the sandpaper. Because it's 2000 grit, this will take some time. You'll have to cut new strips of sandpaper after about a minute of sanding, as it wears out real fast. I had to redo this process about 10 times to get the resuly you see here. It is very subtle, but that is exactly what I was going for. Most gens are not completely destroyed like some people like to recreate. The good examples have a slight fade from 40 years of sun damage and friction from cleaning and polishing.
It actually looks better in person. These pictures don't quite capture the fading as it really is.
Let me know what you think!
