Making a Brass Plate to Replace a Missing One

The antique jeweler's bench that I just cleaned up

was missing one of the brass plates that sit behind

the drawer pulls and door knobs.

So I made a brass plate to replace the one that was missing.

This is how I did it.

I found a piece of brass from my metal stash. 

I placed the brass plate on top of my piece of 

brass and traced it with my scribe.

Then I used my jewelry saw and cut out my
new brass plate.

I smoothed out the edges of my plate with my file.

There are three holes in this plate.
 To get three holes into my new plate I placed
the old plate on top off the new one and used my
hole punch to mark where I want the holes to be
 on the new plate. 

I used my drill press to make my holes.
Then I filed off the burs with my file.

My plate is looking pretty good.
There are markings on the old plate that I
 tried to replicate.
I used a nail punch and a chisel to replicate the
shapes on the old plate. 

To give my new plate a little patina I put it in
a bowl with a very small amount
of black patina.

In about a minute my piece was black.
I took it out and rinsed it with cool water.

I used a piece of 1000 grit steel wool
to take off a little of the black. This gave the piece
more of a worn look.

There you have it,
new made old,
 old just like new.

My new brass plate looks wonderful on my
antique jeweler's bench.