52003

Cleaning Marine Tarnished Brass  

April 21, 2009

Hello,

My sailboat has many solid brass hardwares on deck. Over the years they have taken on a tarnish seeming "unmoveable" by anything I have used. I've run the gamut of products ( I think). Can you come up with the magical stuff I need? Someone told me Muriatic Acid [link is to product info at Amazon]. This was a hotel doorman who had been polishing the outside hardware which were brass water hook-ups for fire trucks. The brass was brilliant.

Steve Utermahlen
cleaning diver - Sausalito, CA USA

I suppose muriatic acid would work, but citric acid also does an excellent job and is much safer to work with. Let us know if we can help.

Ray Kremer Stellar Solutions, Inc. McHenry, Illinois

Try 5% ammonium citrate solution(50 gm citric acid/ 1lit water +add ammonia until pH is 9, cold solution works slow, hot faster/80 C/).If your objects are wax or lacquer finished you must remove coating first. Hope it helps and good luck!

Goran Budija
- Zagreb, Croatia