Is there a 'dip' type cleaner for intricate tarnished brasswork.
 

Does anybody know of a chemical type cleaner for cleaning heavily
tarnished brass? The item is a complex moulding and very hard to clean
with cloth and brasso which just reaches the more exposed surfaces.

Is there a 'dip' type cleaner for intricate tarnished brasswork.
 

"Peter" wrote in message
...
Does anybody know of a chemical type cleaner for cleaning heavily
tarnished brass? The item is a complex moulding and very hard to clean
with cloth and brasso which just reaches the more exposed surfaces.

===============
I don't know of a 'dip' but you could try an old toothbrush to get into the
crevices.

Cic.

Is there a 'dip' type cleaner for intricate tarnished brasswork.
 

In article ,
Peter wrote:
Does anybody know of a chemical type cleaner for cleaning heavily
tarnished brass? The item is a complex moulding and very hard to clean
with cloth and brasso which just reaches the more exposed surfaces.

Vinegar (non brewed condiment) will remove the hard oxidisation and make
polishing with conventional things very much easier.

--
*Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Is there a 'dip' type cleaner for intricate tarnished brasswork.
 

Cover it thickly with mashed rhubarb; no rhubarb?-try Branston pickle.

Is there a 'dip' type cleaner for intricate tarnished brasswork.
 

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Peter
saying something like:

Does anybody know of a chemical type cleaner for cleaning heavily
tarnished brass? The item is a complex moulding and very hard to clean
with cloth and brasso which just reaches the more exposed surfaces.

Diet Coke.
--

Dave

Is there a 'dip' type cleaner for intricate tarnished brasswork.
 

In message , Grimly
Curmudgeon writes
Does anybody know of a chemical type cleaner for cleaning heavily
tarnished brass? The item is a complex moulding and very hard to clean
with cloth and brasso which just reaches the more exposed surfaces.

Diet Coke.

I heard that this was good too. I had been trying to clean a similar
intricate statue and tried it with coke. Having a large ultrasonic
cleaning bath that I had tried with various cleaning fluids before I
put 5 litres of coke in, plus the statue and turned it on.

What happens when you VERY rapidly shake 5l of coke? It was most
impressive, Dr Who special effects would have been proud of it.

Say after me "I'm a pillock" for some reason it had never crossed my
mind, gave SWMBO some amusement though so all was not in vain.
--
Bill

Is there a 'dip' type cleaner for intricate tarnished brasswork.
 

In article ,
says...
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Peter
saying something like:

Does anybody know of a chemical type cleaner for cleaning heavily
tarnished brass? The item is a complex moulding and very hard to clean
with cloth and brasso which just reaches the more exposed surfaces.

Diet Coke.

Isn't that going to de-zincify it and result in a copper finish?

Is there a 'dip' type cleaner for intricate tarnished brasswork.
 

On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 18:15:58 +0100, Peter
wrote:

Does anybody know of a chemical type cleaner for cleaning heavily
tarnished brass? The item is a complex moulding and very hard to clean
with cloth and brasso which just reaches the more exposed surfaces.

Just brush brown sauce over it, and it will clear most of the crap.

Is there a 'dip' type cleaner for intricate tarnished brasswork.
 

On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 01:31:02 +0100, Bill wrote:

Diet Coke.

I heard that this was good too. I had been trying to clean a similar
intricate statue and tried it with coke. Having a large ultrasonic
cleaning bath that I had tried with various cleaning fluids before I
put 5 litres of coke in, plus the statue and turned it on.

What happens when you VERY rapidly shake 5l of coke? It was most
impressive, Dr Who special effects would have been proud of it.

ROTFL! Sonication was used for degassing solvents for HPLC. Nowadays there
are inline degassers which make life a little easier. Using the sonicator
for cleaning jewelery was a sideline which meant that I always had favours
to call in when needed.

Back to the original question, it is possible to remove the tarnish from
brass with a variety of weak acids, but a strong acid like the mineral
acids will dezincify the surface, changing its appearance. As for
polishing, I cannot think of any magical recipe to do that which does not
contain elbow grease. If you look on the ingredients list for coke,
phosphoric acid is listed and it is this which tackles the corrosion. For
those of you who remember Jenolite (now apparently superseded by a
superior product) that was a mixture of phosphoric and hydrochloric acids
plus a couple of ancillary ingredients.

John Schmitt

--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

Is there a 'dip' type cleaner for intricate tarnished brasswork.
 

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Rob Morley
saying something like:

In article ,
says...
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Peter
saying something like:

Does anybody know of a chemical type cleaner for cleaning heavily
tarnished brass? The item is a complex moulding and very hard to clean
with cloth and brasso which just reaches the more exposed surfaces.

Diet Coke.

Isn't that going to de-zincify it and result in a copper finish?

Hmm...good point. I've used it for carb bodies and the like, but never
left brass in for long.
--

Dave

Is there a 'dip' type cleaner for intricate tarnished brasswork.
 

Peter wrote:
Does anybody know of a chemical type cleaner for cleaning heavily
tarnished brass? The item is a complex moulding and very hard to clean
with cloth and brasso which just reaches the more exposed surfaces.

The FAQ-to-be says either vinegar or tomato ketchup, which contains
weak acid + salt.

I've used vinegar on copper and it does a great job. Note the runoff in
either case is toxic.

Coke is a very weak cleaner, and not the right kind of acid for best
results.


NT