Most RESTORATION videos are FAKE: how to spot them

I forgot to mention that if you're also interested in assessing the reliability of news stories, I suggest you try Ground News at ground.news/backyard It's a website and app that compares how the same story is covered by different news media outlets highlighting the political bias and reliability ranking of each one. They sponsored my last video, but not this one, so I'm writing this out of my own free will. So far I'm enjoying it.

The most disgusting type of fake like this is "animal rescue" type videos where the animal abusers that run the channel will, for example, adopt a cat, film them being checked out by a vet, and then put them in real danger repeatedly (putting them in a pit with venomous snakes, for instance), sometimes even resulting in their death. They then "rescue" the animal from the horrible situation that they put the animal in, then cut to them being checked out by the vet from when they got the animal. It's absolutely disgusting.

This reminds me of those "underground swimming pool dug by primitive tools" that are almost all faked in SEAsia

I like some of the "mild fake" videos where it's clear the point is to showcase how to fix everyday objects that an ordinary person might realistically need to fix. I saw one where the author literally left a cast iron pan out in the rain for like a week and let it rust, and then went to town showing how you (relatively) easily restore it, with the point being that cast iron pans quite literally can and should last you a lifetime, even if you mess up and let it rust. There is a significant difference between people messing up antiques for content, and people messing up cheap(ish) everyday objects to show how to fix it for the educational aspect of it.

Just a note: some non-metal objects can get rusty if they are in contact with steel for a very long period of time. I've had rusty shells from the beach because the shells got caught on, say, a steel beam. and the rust got on the shell. I'm not sure exactly what this process entails but I have seen it with my own eyes. I'm assuming this is from rusted chunks of metal separating from the main body of the part and adhering to the nonmetal item.

This is exactly like how after that one guy’s survival channel came out, hundreds of copy channels where they were clearly using heavy machinery and fake survival skills to build “mansion huts,” in the jungle.

Regardless of whether it's fake or not, i wish they didn't use the most aggresive techniques to "restore" them like evaporust and sandblasting. It might encourage people to ruin gun finishes that could be salvaged.

This video is extremely refreshing to watch. I can always respect someone who has the knowledge to explain the intricacies of their craft and the integrity to advise others on how to recognize when they're being misled when it comes to their craft; like a small-town car mechanic that doesn't even attempt to upsell you on repairs that he knows you don't need. Great video, man. Subbed.

I love that youre reaction to being accused of fake content wasnt to defend yourself, or out someone else. But to actual just educate your viewers in a respectful way. Thank you! This is great content!

If the "mild fake" videos would be done honestly, they would give interesting information tbh. The content creator could demonstrate the difference before and after the restoration and teach about permanent damage and the importance of equipmant maintenance

I saw a "restoration" video of a car yesterday. They started with a Ford sedan that had been basically covered in mud, inside and out. They cleaned the car all in close up footage and stuff became really clean. And when they where done, the "after" picture was of a big pickup truck XD

What makes your videos really stand out over the others is the fact that you go beyond simply doing something silently in front of a camera. You actually show your process, and you narrate and explain exactly what you are doing step by step, whereas other videos are completely silent like that dude from the old Cheer Detergent commercials, and it just shows the content creator in the action of "restoring" a firearm. Keep up the good work!

What an absolute power move making a video on how to spot fake restoration videos after being accused of it.

I've seen many of these restoration videos, and I did get the feeling there was a lot of fakery. I'm a gunsmith and machinist in the firearms industry in the United States. I've worked on hundreds of badly rusted guns, so I'm intimately familiar with the effects of rust, where it winds up, and exactly what heavy rust looks like and how much metal it removes depending on it's progress. The fake rusting looks wrong somehow. Too smooth and evenly didtributed. Not irregular enough, and the damage to the metal beneath is not severe enough. I've done full restoration and refinishing a number of times. A rather labor intensive process requiring substantial and very careful manual polishing of the metal. What's really surprised me the most is how a gun can be brought back from the dead most of the time, even rusted into inoperable condition, and how frequently the damage to the blueing can look far more severe than it is. Seldom does rust get inside the gun much. Usually I only see that when it's been submerged, typically in a flood, and then left neglected or remained undiscovered for a while. I've also been surprised by how much badly corroded bores with little rifling left can still usually stabilize bullets and shoot accurately. At least in handguns. With rifles the deterioration shows up rather more from the higher velocities and pressures and the greater range they're used at. I'm glad you've exposed what I have long suspected about most of these gun restoration videos. I also found it very suspicious that relatively recently produced guns would wind up in such shockingly rusted condition, and thought they would have to be deliberately exposed to corrosive agents for that to happen, especially with the widespread use of corrosion resistant finishes since the 1970s. This turns out to have been true!

There is a second thing to look out for. "Restoration" videos where the "restorer" basically destroys the value of the object by using incorrect methods, and makes something that looks shiny but the result is useless. I'm reminded of an "antique violin restoration" I saw a bit back where the first thing the guy did was get out his DeWalt orbital sander and sand all the finish off the violin, and later refinish it in polyurethane gloss. That's NOT how you restore a genuine antique violin, especially one that might have been worth some money. It does make something to hang on the wall at the bar, where the smoke and grease can be wiped off it periodically using some harsh cleaner.

I think the worst part is every niche topic you might be interested in always blows up just a few weeks or months later, then all these new channels suddenly spring up just to hop on the trend and nothing else. SunnyV2 made one on how so many people will fake "Primitive Building" videos (basically just building outdoors with essentially caveman skills and technology, sort of survivalish), but there's also restoration videos, animal rescues, hell I'm pretty sure even stuff like wood cutting videos probably has its fakers somehow. It's probably worth noting that a lot of it is almost definitely destroyed on purpose like you demonstrated with the toy gun, especially many antique or vintage things. They're pieces of history that are destroyed for content. Yes they're restored, but the unfortunate side is that the more it's restored, the less of the original remains until it's basically a brand new item, and in this case it's intentional from the start. Then again, that is if they didn't just buy a brand new thing to ruin it and "restore" it anyway. Worst part by far (apart from the animal "rescue" rabbit hole) is stuff like the primitive building ones where they do it for the video, then abandon the place completely. They'll usually use stuff like industrial plastic pipes to feed water to their location, and that stuff obviously isn't biodegradable, and that paired with the destruction of the landscape both for the video and stuff you aren't supposed to see (like excavator tracks or obvious dig lines from machinery) both make it even worse. The only thing you can praise them for is the use of machines seems to be minimal, but it's still used nonetheless and pushing both a false narrative, and destroying previously untouched pieces of land.

first person i’ve seen to ACTUALLY avoid witch hunting/harassment, the effort of creating your own examples is very admirable

I remember a few years ago seeing a clearly faked restoration of a "Vietnam Zippo" but the design on it was from like 2015 so obviously the presenter had bought the thing recently, buried it in his backyard for a week, then "restored" it.

These gun restoration videos have been popping up in my feed more and more like crazy. I never click on them because my brain instinctly sensed that they were scams like those popular mud hut building videos. This is the 1st video I clicked on talking about proving that I was right. Thank you for this informative video.

I think the dead giveaway for most of these is the uniform, bright orange rust. I've been working on a bunch of project pieces lately, mostly cheap .22s and shotguns, and natural rust is almost never uniform, it's usually patchy from where condensation collected. Also, as you pointed out, usually some parts still have intact finish. Upload frequency I think is another good indicator of validity. Some of these channels have a new vid every day--doing this work for real would require a massive staff to achieve this. It's just not happening. What really gets me is most of these videos are then absolute hack jobs in "restoring" the pieces. Wire wheels and angle grinders make more appearances than they ought to throw pretty sparks for the camera. It's all just so gross to see. Glad you and a few other creators out there are calling this sort of thing out