My new boss has asked me to look into getting them "dipped" to keep them shiny . I asked him what he meant and he told me that he didn't know exactly. "Dipped" is just what he heard should be done to them. I imagine he means that he wants them lacquered.

So... Where should I start looking to get this done. I suppose I could scan the phone book but I don't even know what kind of place to even call.
Second, is this worthwhile? When I have seen lacquered brass fixtures they look nice when they are new but when the lacquer gets chipped up, etc. they look even worse than they would if you just let them turn green. I suppose that means we will have to get them redone every year or so. Is this economical? I would say that it reduces labor but at the expense of having them re-lacquered every year.

If it's worth it I'll find a place and have them done. If not I'll just recommend that we just keep cleaning them the way we have been.

Opinions?
 

I would imagine some of the clear epoxies would hold up fairly well though. You could spray lacquer just the poles and not the post top as a compromise. Lacquer can be removed easily when damaged and re-applied. Clear-coat Krylon is just spray lacquer IIRC.

I'm curious myself how musical instrument makers get the clear and totally flawless coatings on the convoluted brass tubing of the horns.

 

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Greg Mueller
Amateur Astronomer, Machinist, Filmnut
http://www.muellersatomics.com/
 

At the house I used to work we had brass crowd barrier poles. We would use a product called "Brasso", it's kinda like a liquid wax for brass. You'd apply it with an old rag (i'd wear gloves too) and then after a minute, wipe and buff to a shine. Seemed to work well. Sometimes you'd have to use it a second time and put some elbow action into it, but lot of the shine usually came back, even on older or really nasty pieces.

--Chris
 

IF you keep up on the polishing, the things will look good but once you stop cleaning them they look crappy in a short while.
We use Work Study students to do most of the work so payroll isn't as much of a problem as it is in other places. However, getting the WS students to do it often enough is hard.

We TRY to get the people who move the stanchions to use gloves. They do it most of the time. However, you can never prevent customers from putting their hands on them as they go through the lines.

In the weekly staff meeting the subject came up and I was asked to look into this. My thoughts on this are as I stated above... Yes, they will look nice LONGER when they are lacquered/coated but when the coating (be it lacquer or whatever) gets old, cloudy and chipped they will look crummier than they would if you didn't do anything. Then they would need to be redone.

I suppose, if the cost isn't too much, it might be worth it to get them done. Once a year, in the "off season" we could send them out to be done, or even take them back to the workshop and do them on-site if it's easy enough.

Cost and PITA value are the main factors I'm looking into, here.
 

I would not clear-coat them - they would look funky.

If they have been lacquered you may be in trouble. Always better to get the pure brass then it can sparkle like new for many years.

If you can not identify the manufacturer call the Lawrence Company in Bayshore, New York and speak to customer service and ask their opinion.
 

I'm thinking I'll try to find a supplier of that product from a museum conservation supplies dealer. Then I'll take Bob's suggestion and contact the manufacturer for their opinion on having them professionally cleaned. If it all works out we could wax them up real nice and only have to wipe them with a clean cloth for maintainence. Every few months, we could then polish them up with Brasso and then give them another coat of Reniassance Wax.

How's that sound?
 

The retractable Beltracs (which pose less of a trip hazard than standard poles and ropes) are only around $110 each.. By the time you have the poles professionally cleaned and then apply speciality products, it might just be more worthwhile to replace them.
 

When they are clean, they look great. When they are not clean they look like ka-ka. It's just a matter of getting them clean again and KEEPING them clean.

Hello... Work Study! Uncle Sam isn't paying you to sit on your butts all day! The brass polish is in the closet! Hop TO it!

PS: Bob... They are mfg. by Lawrence.

I figured they were Lawrence, they have over a 90% share of the market.

I use to manage a Newsreel Theatre in Times Square, NY. The entire front on the theatre was "Brass".I had to have it polished everyday
do to its' high visibility in Times Square.

I challenged the staff to see who was the best Brass Cleaner in the circuit.The winner received an extra $2.00 dollars a week in their pay check.

This was in the days when assistant managers made $44.43 for a 48 hour week.

You got to love this business.

I called a company called Gaylord Bros. (gaylord.com) who supplies archival materials to libraries and museums. They sell Reniassance Wax as part of their line of conservtion supplies. The cost is about $25 (plus shipping) for a 1/2 pound container. They also sell a product called Ruben
Brite. It is a brass and metal polish that says it provides a "carnuba shine". I'm assuming it contains carnuba wax. That also sounds promising. An all-in-one solution would be nice.

Right now I'm debating whether it would be better to get the wax only product and use regular brass polish or to use the all-in-one polish/wax. I'm leaning toward the two step process because I think it would be better to get all the dirt off before applying the wax. That way, if there was any contamination left on the metal after cleaning you have a chance to get it off before sealing it in with wax. (Just the same way using Mc Guiar's car wax is better for your car's finish than using regular Turtle Wax.)

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.

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.