Does anyone know how or where I could get a set of P&L Copper cups refinished?

What do you mean by refinished? Do you mean polished and lacquered?

You can polish yourself, with a variable speed drill, and a buffing wheel. They sell a drill holder that will mount the drill on a tabletop upside down. Check out Sears.

Use the correct "Jeweler's Rough" for the type of metal, Rough comes in black, white, red, and another color that I forge. Each is used for a different type of metal, Steel, Copper, Brass, Aluminum.

Then lacquer paint or platic coat to preserve the finish.

If you check out the cups and ball section, Ever So Sleightly, you will note most like the tarnished look for their cups.

If you mean re-shaping, it cannot be done very cheaply, or maybe at all, as the original tooling is gone.

The plating is wearing off. So they are very dull in a couple spots. I don't mind them looking tarnished at all.

P & L products where nickel plated, chrome plating was not invented or used back then. Contact an auto bumper refurbishing company, it is my understanding that metal is 1st nickel plated before being chrome plated.

Your 1st posts stated the cups were copper, there is no plating on copper cups, it is solid copper.

Now you have me puzzled?

Hmmmmm. This is my first set of P&L cups. I didn't know they were solid copper! Got em used, this is what I mean by the finish being worn...

Click here to view attached image.

That looks like corrosion of the metal. Nothing can be done for it. The corrosion is to deep to polish out.

Something was against that area of the cup, or the lacquer wore off an it oxidized.

So I would have to get them replated then if I wanted that "removed"

This is not a plated piece, it is solid copper. Plating will not cover up that rough surface. It will cover it up, but it will look the same as the corrosion is to deep.

To remove that rough surface, you would have to sand down the metal, depending on how deep that goes, it may create a hole.

If that spot is a melting of the metal, from someone trying to buff the cup, by letting the buffer run in one spot to long, then the same applies.

I do not believe anything can be done to smooth out that area.

Whoever used that cup has skin that was high in acid content. That could have caused this condition as well.

***. Thanks a lot for your help. I really appreciate it...

If you could find an artesian who works with metals, then maybe it could be filled and polished. That would take working with melted copper.

What you have is much like the corrosion on an auto body fender. These can be filled with auto body filler or melted lead, then sanded and painted. Being this is not a painted piece, you would have to find an artist that works in metal sculpture to repair that little spot. Then I don't know if it would be possible, but that is your best bet.

You might want to go to your local jeweler that actually makes and creates jewelery. They may be able to give you some advice or repair it for you.

That cup would have to be pre-world war 2 or after the war, a metals such as copper were being used for military purposes. I would say it is not plated, as P & L made products in steel, brass, copper and aluminum. If it was plated, the inside bottom would not be copper color or have a coating on it. Dip the cup in Tarn-x and see what the inside looks like. White vinegar will also work, but you have to let it soak a day or more.

Isn"t it possible that the clear coat or varnish is worn off in that location only
and all it needs is polishing with brasso or ketchup?

That may be the case, but I would need to see a better/larger picture.

If the surface is not pitted, then it can be polished as I previously stated.

The owner can remove the current coating with paint remover, then polish and clear coat with spray can paint again.

Just make a lazy susan so you can turn the cup as you paint.

Brasso would take a very long time, hours, to polish or remove the current coating in the surrounding area.

You may want to check out platers or metal polishers in the yellow pages and have one look at the cups and give you a quote to polish them. If you can, find one who specializes in things other than automotive bumpers. At least take advantage of their advise. Make sure they know that your cups can not be easily replaced. Even with good pictures it would be hard to offer deffinitive advice without seeing your cups.

It's probably been said in various ways here before, but plating WILL NOT smooth out a rough surface. It'll just make that rough surface shiny. It must be perfectly smooth and polished BEFORE plating.

It appears to me that the clear coating on the cups has worn off in that spot. The reason the rest of the cup is shiny is because it has a clear coat of some sort--because otherwise the rest of the cup would have a patina or tarnish. By stripping the clear coat, you can then re-polish the cups to a mirror finish. I personally don't like my cups clear coated, because WHEN they tarnish under the clear coat (which happens) you have to strip it off in order to remove the tarnish.

There are various clear coats that have been used-- if it solvent based, like lacquer, you can remove it with lacquer thinner. If it is epoxy-baked (like magipoxy) then you need to use a stripper that contains methylene chloride--which is often sold in hardware stores as "aircraft stripper". Once the clear coat is removed, you will likely need to use a buffing arbor to remove the tarnish, to bring the cups to a mirror polish. It is really not that hard to do.

I'm sorry I did not see this thread before. Some of Mr. Hegbli's information is incorrect.

I probably own more P&L cups than anyone else around. P&L did, indeed, sell chrome plated cups. Many of their steel sets were chrome plated. P&L produced cups up through the 1950's. Chrome plating was certainly around by then, having been in use as early as 1900. It was perfected to what we have now during WW II. Check this link:
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem03/chem03387.htm

Nickel plating has a yellowish hue. Chrome has a slightly bluish tint. It's very subtle.

Bear in mind that during WW II, most metals were very hard to obtain. Steel, aluminum, copper and brass were used for wartime production. Very few magic props were produced during this time, because most machining, etc., went into the war effort.

The original tooling for the cups is still around, but you don't need it to reshape a cup. There are companies that will, for a fee, make a spinning block (or chuck) for you. It will cost you considerably more than the value of the cups. But you don't need one. A musical instrument repairman (think trumpets, saxophones, etc.) can do wonders to the surface of a dented or damaged cup. I have had a number of sets that were redone to bring them back to life.

ANY attempts you make to resurface, reshape, or otherwise recondition these cups will drop their collector's value to the basement.

If you MUST clean these cups, remove the lacquer first. Then clean them with a good copper polish. Wash them thoroughly with a good detergent to degrease them. Then you can spray paint them with clear coat.

You cannot clean metal that has a finish on it without removing the finish first.

The photo shows a vintage cup that still has a mirror finish on it, so it is definitely clear coated with something to keep the cup from tarnishing. Where the dark spot is, the clear coat has worn off.
In order to restore the cup, the clear coat has to be stripped off the entire cup first, then the cup needs polished and a new top coat of clear applied.
As in all vintage collectibles though, you do this at the risk of destroying the value of the piece.

If you decide to use rattle cans of lacquer to clear coat the cup yourself, follow the instructions implicitly or you will get shoddy results. And with some of the lacquer products out there - you'll still get shoddy results. I would not recommend doing this at all.

Thanks very much for all of your suggestions. Sounds like everyone is suggesting I just leave them alone... I really don't want to go through the hassle, but my other P&L copper items are pristine so I kind of wanted to keep them all uniform.

Don't be afraid to at least strip and polish them. it is simple and then at least they will tarnish evenly as they are used. I would be sure not to strip the grey paint on the inside (if it is present) as that is near as good as a p&l hallmark.

todd