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Topic: Making brass look good again.

Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-11-2002 09:05 PM

I read in "Hints from Heloise" one time that after polishing with any brass cleaner, rubbing Lemon Juice into the finish will prolong the shine. Have not tried this yet though (we have brass door pulls and they get crappy looking fast too).

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Bill Enos
Film God

Posts: 2081
From: Richmond, Virginia, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 01-12-2002 08:16 AM

My theatre has 12 brass door out front. Nobody would keep them shined at all so I said I'd do it provided the pay was the same as for the booth, AND that it be done when I feel like it. For polishing I use Liberty Metal Polish. The active ingredient is ammonia so I pour half the polish into an empty container and refill with household ammonia. Just don't use anything that says sudsy, the soap leaves smears. Used this way Liberty cuts the tarnish almost instantly nearly no rubbing. You do need to wipe it off before it hazes. I've tried many auto waxes to preserve the shine. From the cheapest liquid to the most expensive ($20+ a can) paste, NONE of it does anything to slow tarnish in our very humid summer. All the outlandish claims about protecting your cars paint are obviously bullshit. I used clear cheap acrylic on stanchions, it last about a year and resists chipping fairly well. A friend in the instrument repair business says they use Nicolas Lacquer on refinished brass instruments. It is water clear and he says very durable. Also not easy to remove.

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Will Kutler
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1506
From: Tucson, AZ, USA
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 01-14-2002 06:18 PM

NeverDull might also work for you? Military Boot Camp wonder-product!

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Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 01-17-2002 10:31 PM

Randy,

It looks like you will wind up experimenting with a few of these products -- you might also want to try those polymer car products -- the one that claim you use them once and then you don't need to wax your car for a year. They apply a coating that might work just as well on brass. And even if they last only a month you would still be ahead of the game.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-18-2002 01:08 AM

I cleaned one of the posts with brass cleaner and then applied two coats of Reniassance Wax. It's looking spiffy! You can even put your hands on it and it hardly leaves a mark. On the untreated ones if you touch it, a grimy white mark appears and it starts to turn brown after a while.

We're going to leave it as is for a while and see if there is a long-term difference. After they all get used for a while we'll compare them. At this point I think the results are good. When the test is finished we'll get the Work Study students to do the rest.

The only problem now is that a lot of the bases are really crummy looking. The salt from the sidewalks that gets carried into the building has started to corrode the metal on some of them. There are some crufty green splotches on some of them where the salt has gotten to them. If you really go at them with the brass cleaner you can get the discoloration off but there is some pitting that you can't get rid of. If we can't clean them up so they look respectible we might have to send them out to be replated.

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