Hello!

Part way through a Spong 3 project. Inspired by the 23rd Century thread!

I originally intended to make a step by step photo journey to show my work but that didn't work out. Still there should be some useful information.

I'm not an expert at painting or restoration but I think I have some tips that will help you out if you want a food safe coffee grinder finish. For this project I had two aims.

#1 Make the finish as close as possible to the original Spong 3.
#2 Use the paints and oils in such a way that the beans could be ground without potentially introducing toxic substances.

Starting with the photographs of the original condition.










The photographs are from the Ebay listing and didn't show as many traces of rust and damage to the inside of the hopper as there actually was. The condition was still good but photography doesn't pick up everything.

I was worried about the paint on the original - because I knew lead paint was popular then. The original Spongs were spray painted which would have been a high tech procedure at the time.

I had the Spong 3 sandblasted at a local factory. No picture for that.

Then I sent the hopper to Camcoat - a firm in the UK that does work with ceramic coatings. I love the effect on the hopper - it reminds me of those trumpet lily flowers - it somehow seems natural.



On the advice of a friend I tested the metal itself for Lead with a 3M Leadcheck kit, the test came back negative.

Something I don't have photos for but I do recommend - using Frog tape of course to mask off areas you want protected from primer, paint, rust while you're working. I think you should also have a very sharp blade - people recommend Excato knives but I recommend a Trim10 Unger window blade over those because it is incredibly sharp and you can use it to shave off the Frog tape to achieve very precise masking in difficult spots.

Here is my current stage of the project.



I am waiting for the Linseed Oil to dry on the grinding parts - more on this later.



I found a non-toxic gold acrylic paint but have yet to apply it to the metal lettering or hopper lip. There is a popular gold paint on Amazon that claims to be toy safe but it is not because the permissible limits on lead changed. Watch out for misleading advertising - most gold paints contain things like lead that is judged by EU regulations to not be safe near food.



The bare metal is coated in Linseed Oil - also called Flax Oil. Most Linseed Oil in hardware stores you should not use. Boiled Linseed Oil contains heavy metal driers which are toxic. Instead you should probably buy something like Raw Flax Oil which is found in health food stores and is fine to apply to salads. This does take weeks to cure to dry - but I am not in a hurry.



The spray paint is black gloss from Rustoleum. It isn't safe in contact with food but it doesn't matter because the spray paint won't be in contact with any part of the grinding mechanism. If you are using spray paint I recommend using an organic vapour cartridge mask and be outdoors.



I'm missing the original clamp and bowl but I was going to figure out substitutes later. Maybe an Irwin quick clamp? Any thoughts welcome!



I used a plastic milk bottle - poked some holes in it and then primed and painted the screws heads.



A factory manager told me something like glass molds were used to form the parts? It took a lot of detailed work and deep thought which you have to respect a century or more later.



I used the spray Primer, the spray Paint and the Flax Oil. I won't be using that brand of Gold paint and instead have acrylic gold paint in the post from the Culture Hustle shop. Finding reasonably safe paints and oils is not easy even in 2019 I feel.

For the handle I used a sponge sander block, some mineral oil for IKEA butcher blocks applied with fine artist brushes.



I'll update with more photos when everything is dried!

Spong 3 Restoration! would make a great band name.

Besides that, looking good!

Thanks! It has been one of those projects I wanted to get done for a long time and now that the end is in sight it is a relief.

I saw all kinds of amazing Spong projects here on this forum and wanted to prove I could do the same. I was surprised at how hard information was to find with Google - you don't have to stray far off the beaten track before you need to start asking professionals questions.

I was very happy with Camcoat http://www.camcoat.com/ and my local factory with the sand blaster - I'm going to go down and deliver them ground coffee for breakfast drinks with my Spong 3 when it's all finished - the manager was good enough to remove the paint for free!

Update - Spong 3 assembled.






Some people might wonder how fast grinding coffee beans by hand can be. I ground this in about a minute.



I may give it a shellac coating. Two problems with the finish emerged and advice would be welcome.

I found the spray paint chips off.




In one part the spray paint looks dusty.