A few tips on how to restore tarnished brass or copper items. First and most important, the tarnished brass or copper item must be solid, it can not be plated. If you were to clean and polish plated items the plating in most cases will be removed at spots and the base metal will show thru, leaving you with two tone metal surfaces. Second and just as important, the brass or copper must be cleaned of the old finish. Most brass or copper no matter the age has been coated with some type of finish, wax, clear coat, lacquer, varnish or paint. A good paint remover should be used to accomplish this task. Please remember to read and follow all the directions on the paint remover container, as these are very harmful and toxic chemicals and all safety precautions should be taken. Once all the old finish has been completely removed, you are ready to tackle getting rid of the years of tarnish. This is not an easy of quick task, the tarnish or oxidation has been building for a long time, 10, 20, 30 years or longer depending on the age of the item, so do not think that it will be shinning like new in minutes. You now have the choice, a chemical tarnish remover or a hand polish that removes the tarnish and polishes at the same time. The chemical tarnish remover will clean away all the tarnish and leave the raw brass making polishing much easier. The draw back, most contain acids or petroleum products, again with these items the directions and safety information must be followed! An after wash is required most of the time with these products. Now its time to polish, any good quality over the counter hand polish will work just fine. Some are liquid, some paste, some are treated cloth. All work well when the brass or copper have been cleaned down to the bare metal. Get ready to rub and rub and rub! A nice soft cloth and plenty of elbow grease is needed and for tough stubborn spots very fine steel wool or scotch brite type pad work ok then followed by the soft cloth. After the polish dries buff to a high shine. The last step is to coat or not to coat? Your choices are leave the brass bare after polishing. The air will cause it to start to tarnish or oxidize. The speed that this happens depends on several things, temperature, humidity, and how much the item is handled. The more of any of the above and the faster the metal will tarnish. Wax is good, it will slow down the oxidizing process, but the wax will need to be reapplied from time to time. Last and the best or longest lasting is a clear coating such as lacquer or polyurethane. Lacquer is widely used, it dries very fast, and multiple coats can be applied in one day and very little dust problem. Draw back, it does not hold up very well outside and you need several coats for protection. Polyurethane dries very slow causing a dust problem but is a very tuff finish. Both finishes can be purchased at your local hardware store in a spray can. We hope that this information on restoring brass and copper to it original shin has been of some use to you. These are not the methods used by professional polishers, but methods that the average home owner can use. If you have any questions, comments, or want advice please feel free to drop us a e-mail at jkwbrass@yahoo.com and we will be happy to hear from you. Your mail will be answered as soon as possible and it will be posted here on the website for others to read. Have a good day! Jim Wallick jkwbrass@yahoo.com |
Last updated 9/16/10 |