How I Restored My Old Printing Roller/Brayer

Here in the UK we’ve recently had some unseasonably hot weather which seemed to have melted the nation.

What I didn’t expect was it to melt one of my professional quality rollers/brayers.

Now I’ll be honest, this roller/brayer was about 15 years old and when I first bought it my cleaning method wasn’t great

I always use oil based inks when printing, and for cleaning up I use vegetable oil instead of harsh toxic chemicals. Unknown to me at the time, not removing the oil residue properly can deteriorate the surface of the roller/brayer. So with this and then the hot weather, my roller/brayer just had enough and melted

Luckily it was fixable. Yay! So keep on reading to find out how I restored my printing roller/brayer

OOH WHAT A MESS

Yep! This is what my roller/brayer looked like before I began my restoration.

Now the roller/brayer part is wrecked and cannot be saved, so I ordered a new one

It took a bit of effort to remove it, soaked it in WD40 and help from a fellow studio holder, we got the nuts and bolts of and took it apart

I did have to smother the roller/brayer in cornflour/corn starch as it was so sticky and glued itself on any thing it touched, so this mad it easier to handle

GAVE IT A GOOD SOAKING

The frame and the fixing were a mess so I soaked them in some white vinegar. This is good for helping to remove any rusty bits and soften the sticky mess

SOAK, DRY, WD40, SCRAPE AND REPEAT

After the soaking. I dried it. Gave it a little spray of WD40 then using a small metal spatula I began scraping away the mess

I had to do these steps a few time before it all came off

TIME TO CLEAN THE HANDLE

Yep the handle was filthy too. So I dipped a cottonwool bud/Q-Tip into some white vinegar and just wiped that dirt away

TA DA!

After nearly 4 hours the frame and fixings were looking tip top and almost brand new

Now just to wait for the replacement roller/brayer to arrive

The Replacement Roller Arrived

After ordering the wrong sized roller, the correct one arrived and now it looks like I have a brand new roller/brayer

Take Care Of My Restored Roller/Brayer

This time I’m going to take better care of my roller/brayer.

If you use oil based inks too, please check out my blog post

5 Steps To Keep Your Printing Rollers/Brayers In Good Condition