The Vintage Plumber

The Vintage Plumber Dedicated to collecting, restoring, preserving and showcasing a range of unique and interesting examples of Britain's heritage plumbing. 🇬🇧

One last review of the plumbing museum before it's all packaged and boxed up (I'm in the process of moving house).It's s...
24/06/2026

One last review of the plumbing museum before it's all packaged and boxed up (I'm in the process of moving house).

It's still very much a work in progress, but as you can see it's really starting to take shape now.

What you see on show here is a culmination of collecting since I started this hobby away back during the latter part of 2018. I was just a 2nd year apprentice back then, full of curiosity and eager to learn.

I've worked on sourcing a variety of vintage plumbing fixtures for the display as well as building up my archive material for identifying and referencing old fixtures.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can improve the display? What would you like to see featured in future?

Another brilliant example of quality British craftsmanship, polished up and brought back to life! Check out this ancient...
21/06/2026

Another brilliant example of quality British craftsmanship, polished up and brought back to life! Check out this ancient bath mixer tap, most likely dating back to the late-Victorian/Edwardian period! 😱🤩

I spent many an evening shift in the shed after work getting this beauty cleaned up... Much to my partner's annoyance, admittedly. 😅 But I'm sure that we can all agree that it was more than worth it for the end result. 🤩

I bought this tap back at the beginning of April for this year in Bristol, via Facebook Marketplace, for a very reasonable £50 - bargain! 😁 According to seller, the mixer tap was salvaged from an original roll-top bath with a wooden surround.

It's likely that the tap itself would have been semi-submerged into the bath's wooden surround, with the base of the tap fully concealed and just the hot & cold tap heads and waste plunger on show.

I'm convinced that this masterpiece is the work of former Shanks & Co. of Barrhead, Scotland, as there are very faint traces of engravings on the tap that appear to resemble 'SHANKS' and 'PATENT' (refer to 2nd and 3rd last photos).

Initially, I was apprehensive about taking the tap apart to polish it for fear of damaging any components (brass does, after all, have a tendency to go brittle over time). However, it was becoming evident that I had to dismantle the tap in order to obtain access to the more restricted areas. Astonishingly, all the flat head screws holding the tap heads came out intact and with very minimal resistance! Lucky me! 😅

As well as putting the tap through the usual thorough polishing process, I also sourced some new rubber gaskets for the tap head bases as the original gaskets had seen better days. To make the screw holes for the new rubber gaskets, I took a spare cistern bolt I had lying around, heated the end of the bolt with my blowtorch until it started glowing and pieced the gaskets with it.

As is customary with my restoration posts, I have included plentiful 'before' and 'after' shots of the tap for your perusal and enjoyment. 😁 I have also added a photo at the very end featuring tap partially dismantled so that you can see most of the components that make up the tap.

Thanks for viewing and I'll see you all next time for more rare and spectacular vintage plumbing content. 👍

An original catalogue extract from John Bolding & Sons from 1909! 🤩The company was renowned for producing high quality s...
10/06/2026

An original catalogue extract from John Bolding & Sons from 1909! 🤩

The company was renowned for producing high quality sanitaryware appliances, tapware and fixtures.

According to research, the company's history dates back as far as 1822! 😱

Source: Grace's Guide

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/John_Bolding_and_Sons

First restoration post in a while, and I hope it doesn't disappoint! Take a look at this immaculate solid copper heat ex...
31/05/2026

First restoration post in a while, and I hope it doesn't disappoint! Take a look at this immaculate solid copper heat exchanger, recovered from an obsolete coal-fired back boiler unit! 😱🤩

The heat exchanger is likely to be around 56-years-old based on the property it was recovered from, which was constructed around 1970. It is definitely an original component of the old open-vented, gravity-fed central heating system that was installed when the property was built.

The heat exchanger weights 6.54 kg (equivalent to around 1 stone). Excluding the ¾" imperial flow and return connections, it measures at approximately 305mm x 150mm (about 12 inches by 6 inches).

Restoring the heat exchanger and achieving a high quality polished finish did not, however, come without its challenges.

Let me make it abundantly clear when I say that this was an absolute pig to clean up. 😂😭

The heat exchanger was initially placed in a basin full of hot, soapy water and then scrubbed with a wire brush to remove the decades of soot deposits and debris.

After the initial clean, it was clear, however, that the copper surfaces had sustained a high degree of pitting over the years and would therefore have to be sanded down before the polishing process could begin. To achieve this, I started with a coarse 40 grit sandpaper and then worked my way up to finer grit sandpapers until the desired smooth surface was achieved.

Finally, the surfaces were then buffed to death and then polished to perfection using a range of polishing mops and compounds. A dollop of Brasso was also applied at the end to ensure a long-lasting mirror shine finish.

If you've made it this far then I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this post, and I'll see you all next time. 😎👌

A productive drive early this morning to Cumbria from West Lothian and back to pick this Fordham high-level cistern made...
25/04/2026

A productive drive early this morning to Cumbria from West Lothian and back to pick this Fordham high-level cistern made entirely from copper! 😱🤩

This cistern has done quite a fair bit of travelling over its lifetime! According to the seller, the cistern initially started its life in England, and was then shipped over to Northern Ireland to be installed in a house in Belfast. At some point, it was then salvaged and brought back to England, and today it was purchased by me and is now up in West Lothian, Scotland. 😅

I've encountered a couple of pressed steel versions of this Fordham cistern over the years, but never have I seen one made from copper. It's absolutely stunning. Even the (original) syphon is made out of copper, too! 🤩 I'm very excited to start working on restoring this cistern. It needs a replacement fulcrum and chain, but other than that it's in remarkably mint condition for its age and should polish up a treat.

Apart from being a highly-desirable collection piece, I've taken a strong liking to the cistern and may well end up retro-fitting this in my next house. At the very least, I'll set it up in my test rig in the shed once restored and get some test videos of it working. 😁

The spoils from a 4 day conquest down in England and South Wales! 🤩 I returned to Scotland last night after a hellish am...
03/04/2026

The spoils from a 4 day conquest down in England and South Wales! 🤩 I returned to Scotland last night after a hellish amount of long-distance driving... Slept like a baby! 😴

Quite an impressive haul of vintage plumbing artifacts here, if I do say so myself. 😅 There's a good range of relics here dating from the early to mid-20th century (possibly late 19th century in regards to the bath mixer tap).

I'm at a total loss what to start working on as I'm spoiled for choice... Maybe that old bath mixer tap? What do you guys and gals reckon? 🤔

I've just picked up this absolutely stunning bath mixer tap from in the Bristol area off Facebook Marketplace from a lov...
01/04/2026

I've just picked up this absolutely stunning bath mixer tap from in the Bristol area off Facebook Marketplace from a lovely chap... What a beauty!!! 😱🤩 I'm convinced this is a relic from the late-Victorian/Edwardian period!!!

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