Some progress on this.
An explanation is in order regarding my apparently haphazard approach to this restoration. I don't have the budget to allocate several hundred dollars to rechroming, nor do I have the inclination since the bike is much too small for me, my wife already has a lovely Jack Taylor Mixte, and my daughter has a Peugeot Mixte.
Unfortunately the oxalic acid bath was not kind to the dull brown, originally red, paint, further discoloring it and leaving a surface that no amount of polishing would improve. The ivory paint remained intact. This is the first time I've had this result from oxalic acid, but this is the first time I've used it on paint that was so compromised to begin with. It was then that I decided to repaint the brown sections. Color choice was simple. @
orcas island had mentioned light blue which seemed a great choice to me. I had some light blue paint and some white paint left over from previous projects, but not enough of either for a complete bike. So the final color was determined by mixing the two together. Pot luck painting! In preparation for painting I applied a thin coat of bondo to the seat stays where a rack had scarred them pretty badly. To my dismay the bondo reacted with the paint leaving white spots on the stays. Further proof that I am not a professional painter.
I could have painted over the chrome. In fact I did paint the chrome on the seat stays and the berceau stays, which was in very bad shape. I like the chrome on the head lugs in spite of its ragged state. To me it is one of the defining features of this bike. Given that the chrome would remain in its current disheveled state I had to decide about the ivory panels. They are nice enough that I decided to keep them. I also decided to keep the hand-painted tricolor on the seat tube panel and the tops of the seat stays. They say something of the history of this bike which was built at a time when this was fairly common practice on French bikes. I like the evidence of the human hand at work. I will admit this is a peculiar process I went through, picking and choosing which patina to keep and which to eliminate; also an experiment just to see how it would turn out.
To lessen the contrast between the shiny new clear coat and the older ivory panels I rubbed down the clear coat with 1500 grit paper and rubbing compound to knock down the luster a little bit. I then polished the ivory panels with rubbing compound to bring it up to a similar luster. Then a coat of carnauba wax over all.
I am awaiting a tire to complete my work. Until then a couple more photos.
Brent