Thornton Picard Restoration

In my two-part YouTube series, I've been documenting the painstaking process of restoring a very special piece of history: a 100-year-old Thornton Pickard College camera from around 1910. The goal is to bring this vintage camera back to life and eventually even take photos with it.

In the first video, I performed a complete teardown of the camera. This was the first step to assess its condition and understand what I was up against. As I began to take it apart, I discovered a few major issues. Most notably, the bellows were completely ripped and the original shutter mechanism was missing. Despite these challenges, I was able to carefully document and showcase the various parts that I would be working with, including the film holders, ground glass, adapter plates, and several glass plates.

The second video picks up where the first left off, diving into the cleaning and restoration. The camera's brass components were heavily tarnished and rusty, so my initial attempts at cleaning with household remedies like ketchup, baking soda, and vinegar proved to be ineffective. I had to resort to a more drastic, time-consuming method: using a Dremel to grind away the heavy corrosion. This meticulous process took me approximately 10-12 hours to complete. For the wooden parts of the camera, I used alcohol to clean off the surface grime and scraped away any residual glue. After all the cleaning was done, I reassembled the camera and was able to fix a broken gear in the sliding mechanism, which is now working properly.

The restoration journey is far from over. I still have a number of tasks ahead of me before I can officially call this camera "restored." My future plans include replacing the old, dusty, and moldy bellows, restoring the lens by disassembling, cleaning, and polishing it, and replacing the disintegrated leather strap. I also have a couple of ideas on how to address the missing shutter. I'm looking forward to the challenge and hope you'll follow along as I work to get this magnificent camera back to its former glory!

Watch the Playlist here! 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6aH2qDVXmNN7vv2iwJGJDIaHZmONu1M3&si=zmJzqc-HlAy7GgHe