Looking for a brass polish magic bullet...

[Scott --]

Hi, all -

I have a ton of brass to polish across two cameras. It's gross, dirty, and heavily tarnished. Not a nice, even patina - I want it to shine. My usual MO on this stuff is a felt wheel on a Dremel and some Flitz; I have enough to polish now that I'm looking for the quickest method possible. Something like dunking in Tarn-X, but brass-safe.

Anyone have any ideas? I've tried Brasso, salt/vinegar, and Nevr-Dull. All work, but slowly, and with a lot of elbow grease. I'm hoping for something quicker.

Thanks for any suggestions.
Scott

[Brian C. Miller]

Most likely you are working through the lacquer over the brass before getting to the brass itself. If there is no lacquer, just actual plain brass, then Brasso and Nevr-Dull work quite fast. Try a bit of lacquer remover, and then follow it with brass polish.

[lenser]

Scott,

Not quicker, but a lot less elbow grease and permanent.

I've had the brass from a couple of cameras (5x7 and 8x10 Ansco's) and several brass lenses restored the local music shop.

I had to take the brass off the cameras and the glass out of the lenses. Took all the bits to the instrument repair shop and they dipped it into a bath tub full of some wildly nasty looking (and caustic smelling) chemicals that totally stripped the crud off (I can only be reminded of DIPPPPPP!!!!!! from "Who Framed Roger Rabbitt"), then they buffed them to a very high sheen and lacquered them with a clear coat as the final step. After thirty plus years, they still shine like a brand new coin.

Well worth the time and effort.

[Jim C.]

I soaked my brass parts in lacquer thinner overnight to loosen any lacquer
that may have been applied over the tarnish, then after drying,
Brasso for about 10-20 min and used some minor elbow grease
to clean the remaining muck off, seemed the easiest and safest way to do it.

[Scott --]

Well, earlier I scrubbed an area with lacquer thinner, thinking that might be an issue. Didn't seem to do much, but I'll give it all a soak for a while and see how things progress. There are some parts that need to stay in place (I'm not filing off peened heads), but the rest will get pulled for soaking.

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone.

[John Kasaian]

A quick soak in jalapeno juice should do the trick! Fresno chili juice works just as quickly.

[Scott --]

Well, a brief follow-up: I took off some of the brass and soaked it in lacquer thinner. Then, after a few hours, put the parts, still in the lacquer thinner bath, in an ultrasonic cleaner and sonicated them for a while. Took them out and went at one piece with Flitz and a rag, the other with Flitz and a Dremel. The results are attached - the Dremeled one is on the right. Looks like I'm just going to have to suck it up and get after it with the Dremel. [sigh]

[IanG]

Try soaking in hot vinegar (or stop-bath) about 25%, it'll attach & dissolve virtually all the oxidation. It takes the zinc out of the surface layer and leaves a reddish (coper) films that's very easy to polish quickly.

That's worked well for my restorations for brass work.

Ian

[Jim C.]

Well, a brief follow-up: I took off some of the brass and soaked it in lacquer thinner. Then, after a few hours, put the parts, still in the lacquer thinner bath, in an ultrasonic cleaner and sonicated them for a while. Took them out and went at one piece with Flitz and a rag, the other with Flitz and a Dremel. The results are attached - the Dremeled one is on the right. Looks like I'm just going to have to suck it up and get after it with the Dremel. [sigh]

uhhh.... I don't think using a flammable liquid in any ultrasonic cleaner is such a good
idea, the flash point of lacquer thinner is somewhere between 5-20º F.

I've never used Flitz, but Brasso contains a mild abrasive ( feels rather coarse to me )
and it polishes the brass up to it's original mill finish nicely, were the brass parts on
your cameras that highly polished ?

[bobwysiwyg]

Have you determined if these parts are solid brass rather than brass plated steel or some other base metal?

[Scott --]

I'm using a small amount of thinner, in a covered container, placed into the ultrasonic bath (which is filled with water). There's no ignition point available, and the bath itself is water. There's negligibly more evaporation going on than just leaving the container open in the room. It's safe. Unless I turn on the stove. :rolleyes:

The parts are from a camera dating to around 1900. I'm working on the assumption that it's solid brass.

Ian, I'll try the hot vinegar next.

[Pete Watkins]

Get an old saucepan with a lid that you're never going to cook anything edible in again, ever. Over here we can buy soft soap in chemist chains. When you're in the chemists buy some household ammonia (don't use industrial strength, household will stink the house out anyway). Boil up some water in the saucepan and stir in the soft soap until it dissolves. Remove the pan from the heat, stir in a good amount of the ammonia then add the brass bits. Put the lid on. Leave in a shed or an outhouse overnight (to get the smell out of the house) and wash the brass in water the next day. Polish with Brasso (or an American equilivent). If you want to lacquer it (this will save you from having to polish it when it "dulls") the quickest way is to use spray laquer from a car parts supplier or any cellulose lacquer.
Best of luck,
Pete.

[Jim C.]

Pete, isn't that formula you're describing the same as Brasso without the
addition of the polishing grit ?

Scott, just checking, :) I have limited experience with Ultrasonic cleaners
and a lot of experience using solvents.

Bite the bullet, it's snowing AGAIN in NY probably where you are too,
sit down with some Brasso and rub that tarnish off, better than shoveling snow ;)

[Scott --]

No problem, Jim. I appreciate your safety awareness.

Yeah - snow here, too. Same storm - you guys are in for it! Have shoveled three times today. Would much rather be polishing brass... :rolleyes:

[Roger Thoms]

Just curious if anyone has tried Simichrome. Use to use many years ago on bicycles, worked great on chrome and aluminum, but never tried it on brass.

Roger

[Pete Watkins]

Jim,
Most of that old brass was "Hot Lacquered". That was a method of coating brass with a shellac based laquer. The brass had to be hot and the laquer stuck to it as we say over here "like Sh*t to a blanket". It lasted for years and could only really be removed easily with the soft soap and ammonia formula that I mentioned (sometimes with a scrubbing with pummice powder). This stuff also killed verdigrease which was a corrosive growth (like rust is to ferrouse products) that attatcked brass especially if it had been stored near gas lamps (don't ask).
Pete.

[Jim C.]

"like Sh*t to a blanket"

LOL ! Love that picturesque phrase.
I over heard one that I found pretty funny, very apropos for the weather
I'm having here - " shivering like a dog trying to pass a peach pit"
;)

I'll have to look into hot lacquering, sounds like an interesting process.

[Marc B.]

You can use the old shipyard recipe:
1/2 cup Lemon juice, and 2 teaspoons salt.

Work this onto the Brass with (4), 0000 Steel Wool

[Nathan Smith]

Speaking of the hot lacquer process - do most folks spray the finished parts with some sort of clear lacquer? It's not that hard to shine the brass up, but it doesn't stay that way long. I'm not afraid to try that on most hardware, but I'm wondering about old brass lenses - I'd want to make sure I got enough on there to prevent re-oxidation, but no more than that.

[IanG]

For my spare Agfa Ansco 10x8 I used cellulose lacquer from a car (auto) parts store. same as Pete suggests, I also used a small paintbrush to put a drop of lacquer on screw heads after parts were replaced.

Works well and is quite quick, I'll do the same with the brass work on my Half plate camera once the weather warms up.

Ian

[Scott --]

Well, I bought some cheap-o vinegar today, boiled some in the microwave, and dunked a brass corner that has withstood any polishing attempts in it. Let it soak for about 20 minutes. Removed the part, rinsed it off, then set about polishing it lightly with some Flitz cream. I stress lightly 'cause I'm specifically looking for a low-labor means of cleaning this stuff up.

The result?

http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd359/smpsweeps/IMG_6895.jpg

Now, I chose the vinegar route as I can stomach hot vinegar much better than hot ammonia. My original goal was a dip-and-rinse solution, and the ammonia one may be that, but I'm pretty happy with the labor savings with the hot vinegar. If I can figure out what soft soap is (pretty sure it's not the stuff in the pump bottles we have in the bathrooms...), I may give that a try, too.

Thanks for the tip, Ian!

[IanG]

If you added a bit of table salt the vinegar would form some weak Hydrochloric acid with it and work a touch faster, would be more agressive though.

With a slightly poor surface after the vinegar I usually use #600 grit Wet & Dry (wet) then brass polish to restore the sheen.

Soft soap is the plainest, simplest soap you can buy, leave it wet it goes soft :D

Ian

[lustrewand]

In the diving industry, for helmet maintenance, we stripped everthing: brass; chromed brass; teflon seals... the lot, and left the bits overnight in 50% water and 50% Indian Vinegar. I am still here to prove it and the parts came up prettily. Good luck.

[Roger Thoms]

Just curious if anyone has tried Simichrome. Use to use it many years ago on bicycles, worked great on chrome and aluminum, but never tried it on brass.

Roger

OK, I went and bought some Simichrome, and just as I remembered from my bike shop days, it works great. About ten times better than the Brasso I tried. I was polishing some brass parts for a pinhole camera I'm building. So I wasn't dealing with old lacquer coating which I imagine would still have to be stripped off.

I did have a little trouble finding the Simichrome, but finally located it at a local motorcycle shop. It is of coarse available online, I just try to avoid ordering online when the shipping is as much as the cost of the item.

Roger