Polishing Brass

1. If it's been previously coated you need to remove the coating or you'll end up waisting a lot of time with cleaners or polish. Use Acetone or Berrymans Chem Dip.

2. Now you want to remove the tarnish. I like to use a blend of Nitric and Phosphoric acid. (about 25/75).

If you don't want to hunt down these acids just look for toilet/bathroom cleaners with phosphoric acid as the active ingredient. It'll work slower but it's effective.

3. Now you can start the buffing process. Use tripoli for cutting and red rouge the final coloring. I like to buff with 8" wheels on a 1800 rpm Baldor buffer. (you can also do your coloring with Green Stainless compound).

Try to buff in only one direction. You'll come closer to getting a mirror shine.

4. Now clean the item with a microfiber cloth to remove any residue.

5. The final step is to apply a coating if you want to preserve the shine. Use Nikkolas clear coat laquer and make sure it's the formula with UV protection. Nikkolas is has been making the best laquer for years for musical instruments.

We take them apart and use a muslin wheel with tripoli and then polish on a second wheel with white rouge. Mine came from Woodcraft and McMaster Carr, but I think Lowes carries these items. I wore out my Baldor grinder and built a polisher from a mandrel and an old motor. Makes a mess, but boy does it shine when you are done.

You need to wash it good, dry it, and coat it with lacquer (I use Deft high gloss).

This may be too much shine for a sundial, but I couldn't help but comment.

Cliff (VA)

Cliff (VA)

I use amonia for cleaning brass antique clock works to a brite yellow natural finish. This works well if your brass has a good quality of zinc content. Brass is a mixture of copper and zinc or about 30% zinc for high grade brass.

You might want to try a small corner or under the dial first to see what color/cleaning change you get.

Rinse with clean water.

T_Bone

Yes I do as the pivots and bearing doesn't clean well without taking them apart leaving behind gum deposits that slows the gear train down, or the reason they needed cleaned.

If you boil ammonia and condense the vapor you have nitric acid, very corssive to carbon steel.

T_Bone

It's a wadding with the cleaning compound in it. Wipe it on, buff it off. Worked GREAT for me 'n' a whole BUNCH of USMC recruits....

HTH
Steve

If it's been sitting out for years, it's got a heavy layer of oxidation on it, and it's going to take quite a bit of effort to wear down through that. Usually when I go to polish a brass/copper item that's heavily oxidized, I start out with some fine steel wool (coarser to start with if there's heavy corrosion, i.e., rough green patches), then switch to Twinkle copper cleaner (I buy it at the grocery store) and an old kitchen sponge and work with that until the metal starts to show light coloring. Once I'm at that point, I use Simichrome metal polish or DuPont chrome polish and an old terry washcloth or piece of towel, and then to put the final mirror finish on, I use Nevr-Dull Magic Wadding (we used it when I was in the Navy to do all of the brightwork) and buff well with a clean piece of an old T-shirt. Make sure you buff all of the Nevr-Dull residue off, 'cause the chemical reacts with water and will leave dark spots.

If the surface of your sundial isn't smooth (i.e., a high-relief casting), you may want to try a cloth buffing wheel and some jeweler's rouge -- might make it easier to get into the nooks and crannies.

One final thought: Some folks like the aged look, and simply allow their brass to acquire a verdigris patina. (Sounds like you're not one of them, though, so try some of the above suggestions).

You may also want to consider applying a layer of protective lacquer to prevent rapid re-tarnishing. I believe that Home Depot keeps this in stock, as well.

Just my 2� worth; hope it helps.

-- Maine Fordson