How to: Oil Rub Bronze

A. Hi, Leland. Ideally it could be sent to a plating shop for plating with a fresh uniform layer of copper, followed by blackening, followed by selective relieving for the most authentic solution to the problem. The blackening may be left bare as a "living finish", or be clearcoated for stability.

But doing it yourself is possible. Get the copper clean and uniform and apply a brown patina with liver of sulfur ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] or brass darkening solution ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] , then clearcoat it. More detail and additional details can be found by reading on.

If the sheet will see no wear, it may also be possible to flame color it to the look you want. Please see thread 2662 for more info about flame coloring.

Good luck.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Never clear coat on humid days, unless you have heated up a closed room. Also, I may heat the part with a torch at a distance, then clear, wait two minutes to see if the coating clears out the murky effect. Once in awhile I can torch it from a distance after the lacquer and the murky disappears.

I found the best spray SATIN clear lacquer at KMart. Buy Dutch Boy Satin Lacquer (3-4 bucks a can) ... it is the best. I have tried all others, but this one seem to give me the best results. I buy boxes whenever I can. Never use their glossy lacquer. I found another brand to be better.

Another thing, we glass bead all the raw pieces and then go to a dull copper (cyanide) Low current, then antique, rinse, and antique again. This gives us a red oil-rub bronze. It took me months to figure that the antique, RINSE, and antique again was crucial to get a uniform antiquing. For an olive version, we glass bead, brass plate, antique, rinse, antique.
Others believe in doing a satin finish(mechanical polishing)before the plating process, but not me. I think it is a waste of time, I prefer just glass beading the raw parts before going to the plating processes.

Drying is also important. Very sensitive finish. I have the employees dry the hook, and the wire, and the part immediately. No pussy footing around when doing this job. One water drops leaves a big stain. They also use latex gloves for handling.

We hand rub the part clean. Then depending for the desire effect, we use scotch brite pads or #0000 steel wool ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] . 0000, 000, 00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 steel wool grades ... stock all of them.

Also, many companies use wax or mineral oil to seal the oil-rub bronze finish instead of lacquer...satin lacquer.

Note: Commercial Oil-Rub Bronze has nothing to do with Oil, Rubbing, or Bronze...funny.
Oil-rub bronze comes from the art sculpture field.

A. While you could perhaps retain an experienced metal working artist to do this for you, an alternative that some people would not recognize is that some plating jobshops can do this kind of refinishing for you. You could theoretically darken the brass with liver of sulfur ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] , but it will only work after the brass is free of lacquer and clearcoat, and the result may not be quite what you wanted anyway.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. To my eye, oil rubbed bronze is a brown-black finish with copper-ish or brass-ish tones showing through at the corners and wear areas. The brass can be generated with brass darkening solution ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] or liver of sulfur, and can be relieved back to brass color at the corners and wear areas with ultrafine steel wool ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] . It should be close -- but such relieving requires some artistry skill.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi, Walid. Yes, stainless steel can be electroplated with various metals including copper so that it can be made to look antique bronze.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi, Merry. Alicia has described what's involved, and I don't think it's very realistic to consider such a complicated industrial process (involving cyanide-based electroplating) a D-I-Y project :-)

However, it is possible to prime the metal with a self-etching primer for good adhesion, then paint it with copper colored paint, then paint it with a brown-black paint, rubbing it away from the corners and high spots to give an oil-rubbed bronze look. Even simpler, although probably without the highlights, would be paints like Rust-Oleum "American Accents" Oil-Rubbed Bronze spray paint.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. The question was to 'make bright brass look like oil-rubbed?'
The answer is too easy. Strip the lacquer finish with any good stripper, wash with soap and water, wipe with denatured alcohol (no fingerprints). Then the easy part, wipe with gun blue until you get the darkness you want. My first try was two wipes and you can't tell it from the one I was matching.

Rub 'n Buff Copper

on Amazon or eBay
(affil link)

A. Hi, Fay.

Metals aren't inherently quite black so I unfortunately don't know which you are referring to -- but cast iron is probably close to black.

A problem in such projects is that, while things can rather easily be painted, to try to react a metal with a reagent to cause it to turn a certain color when you don't know what the metal is and the finish that is on it can be difficult -- a bit like asking what to add to some white powder you found to make a cake if you don't know whether that powder is flour or arsenic :-)

And just like you can't make a cake with arsenic, only certain metals can be reacted to achieve certain colors -- you're not going to get a copper color showing through from cast iron.

If you can find out exactly what the fixture is made from, we might be able to suggest reagents. Lacking that, please consider either paints or a dark wax rub (Rub n Buff ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] ), or starting with a copper patina solution. Good luck!

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi, Becky.

Oil rubbed bronze is a "living" finish that meets your requirement. If you want to preserve a bright appearance instead, you could try sodium benzotriazole ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] which is a copper preservative. Good luck.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Jumped on this late but my 2 cents on oil rubbed bronze. My firm specializes with metal restoration and specifically in bronze

Alicia, you are correct that Oil Rubbed Bronze is from the art sculptor world however there are many commercial bronze projects that are bronze rubbed and oiled. Two that stick out are many areas of Rockefeller Center that are a oil rubbed bronze spec (US10B). Where the metal is chemically oxidized to a brown/black color and rubbed with oil either mineral oil or bronze oil. It is usually toweled dry to minimize runoff but enough is left on to slow the oxidation process from continuing. If the oil is maintained you can go years without having to re-oxidize.
There are many suppliers of chemical agents that can be used, however since this is my first post I am not sure if we can throw out names in posts.

The other major oil rubbed bronze commercial project is the Seagrams building on park avenue where the curtain wall from roof down to grade is a US10B finish and historically has been oiled down approximately once per year. Unfortunately I believe that some painting has occurred on the lower level

For bronze that has been damaged, it can all be oxidized using cold chemical process in the field to different levels of color. If you truly are dealing with oil rubbed bronze you would not want to apply a lacquer finish on top of the oil.

  Thanks so much for your very knowledgable contribution, and interesting examples, Bill! I didn't realize that actual oil rubbed bronze was in use anymore.

The look of oil rubbed bronze is very popular today, and the most authentic application methods may not be practical for every situation. For example, consumer products for the kitchen and bathroom often involve daily handling and are often copper plated diecastings or steel rather than solid copper; these require a clearcoat or lacquer even though that prevents a "living finish" and renders them not authentic oil rubbed bronze.

Yes, thanks, in most cases we prefer no company names (huh? why?) :-)

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Need quick confidential answers? $25
Need project assistance? $100/hr.

A. Hi Tim.

You'd have to strip off that powder coating before you can get to the copper to blacken it, then re-powder. A pretty big job.

Luck & Regards,


Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Need quick confidential answers? $25
Need project assistance? $100/hr.

A. Hi, Mindy. Oil rubbed bronze may not be appropriate for sliding surfaces. When things slide along each other and wear against each other, you need robust metal surfaces. Oil rubbed bronze is usually lacquered (which is soft). The coloration is thin and will scratch right off. It's probably not an appropriate finish for outdoors if that was your intention.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi Sean.

The current finish is nickel plating or nickel-chrome plating, which can't be darkened with things like liver of sulfur. You could try coating the parts with a tinted lacquer but I don't think you'll like the looks, or reliability of the finish adhering and wearing well and, considering the intricacy, the possibility of just gumming up the works.

I think you'll need to send them to a plating shop for stripping of the existing nickel and chrome plating, followed by copper plating, and antiquing. The only problem with that is it probably will cost more than you'd like. If you wish, please reply 'quote please' or something like that.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hello,
My family has owned and operated a highly regarded custom metal finishing facility in the NYC area for the past 100+ years. I myself have been working in it for almost 40 years. I just happened to stumble across your thread of posts. Without sounding pedantic, I thought I'd do a public service and try to help you all a bit without hurting my own industry.
(A) Almost all metal finishing should be done by professionals. It is difficult, dangerous and dirty business. It involves nasty chemicals. In your cases things like methlyene chloride (common in hardware store paint and lacquer removers) and selenium (common in oxidizers). These and many others not only are health hazards when you breathe them, but also can soak into your skin and deposit in your liver.
(B) Also, homemakers are not regulated, they send 100% of their nasty refuse into the landfills, septic systems, oceans and sewer systems. in my industry we are not allowed to let any metal or chemicals go down the drain and into the sewers. The amount of something as benign as copper (for example) that goes down the drain when your mom scrubs a copper pot would get me a huge fine from the DEC.

Now that the scolding is done, I'll send a separate e-mail with some advise that might help.

A. Hi Keith. Trophy engravers get that jet black color on brass with selenium dioxide; I don't know if it works on copper, but suspect that it will.

It is certainly possible to do a heavy copper plate, then blacken, then clear coat steel railing posts, but usually such processes are done in a plating shop rather than in the field -- and the cost might be prohibitive.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Keith, liver of sulfur sprayed onto heated brass will turn black. Also, you can rust steel with cupric chloride then spray brown tinted lacquer over result and looks just like ORBronze

Ed. note: Great answers, Barry.

A. Hi Andrew. That looks looks quite beautiful and expensive, and very much like copper plating with a blackening treatment followed by a clearcoat ... but I don't think it is  🙂

Because here's the thing: as soon as someone says something looks good, there is tremendous motivation for a company to provide a powder coating with an antiquing stain that looks very similar but costs less to ride the coat tails of the more expensive finish  🙂

That's just the way it is with decorative finishes: the hunt for cheaper imitations is always on.

Personally, I actually think this piece is powder coated with a wiped on stain. I'd rather not say exactly why because on the next version they'll try to address whatever we saw in order to make the cheaper finish less easily visually distinguishable from the finish it is imitating  🙂

I think your best bet for something you can do yourself is a nice copper colored paint followed by wiping with something similar to a furniture stain. You might look for an alcohol ink instead of paint, but I'm not sure it will be 'saturated' enough to please you. Remember that things in contact with food must be food-safe though. I'd use this only on non food contact surfaces. Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi Amar. Here in the USA virtually everyone uses proprietary processes, so the answer would be to contact your plating process supplier for the necessary chemistry. In India, the situation seems more mixed, with many shops relying on proprietaries, but many others doing home-brew. I think one of the things you'll want to do for dull brass is to skip the nickel plating or other undercoating used for bright brass, and just apply a heavy layer of brass plating. This can be darkened with liver of sulfur, gun bluing solutions, or proprietaries. Finally, you probably want to clearcoat it with a two-component automotive clearcoat, or an e-coating, or a matte brass lacquer. Good luck.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi Sterling.

If it's real gold plating it will probably be high karat and relatively unaffected by LOS. But however you get them dark I think ultrafine steel wool to bring back the lighter color is a better idea than painting the highlights on.

Luck & Regards,


Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Need quick confidential answers? $25
Need project assistance? $100/hr.

A. Hi Jeffrey. With a properly applied rugged clearcoat -- probably a 2-component automotive clearcoat -- the oil rubbed bronze will have pretty good durability. Finishing.com did a corrosion study for ILZRO/IZA a couple of years ago and an antique bronzed finish (blackened copper plating) with clearcoat performed exceptionally well in corrosion testing.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi Melissa. Alicia's posting was from 10 tears ago and I don't know if we'll be able to reach her. I don't think paint has enough durability for a kitchen sink, what with pots banging round and all. But Alicia or others might have suggestions. Barry Feinman sells materials to achieve that look.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi Elvia. Theoretically, you could buff the part back to a scratch-free shine, then use a brass darkening solution ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] , then apply an automotive clearcoat.

But have you done any metal finishing as a hobby or craft? Because a crafter would practice the technique on scrap a half dozen times before attempting it on their actual art. Unfortunately, the idea that a person with no prior finishing experience can do a proper and robust decorative finish on a difficult item like this on their first try is questionable; sorry.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. A comment about oil rubbed bronze finishes. First My experience and knowledge of this finish type comes from a former work experience as a technical support engineer for a major U.S. door hardware manufacturer. Oil rubbed bronze is an example of what is called an unstable finish, the oil eventually is depleted or worn off, causing the bronze to patina and turn green. This is normal and anyone wishing to have this hardware look like it did when new will be disappointed. It was never designed to remain in the original installed condition! Scrubbing the green off is only real damage if the bronze layer is a plated type and has also been worn through to the underling base metal. If the bronze metal is still present time will "heal" this "damage" as the green will reform over time, which will be shorter than the original as the oil is not present.
Bright Bronze or brass finishes can be maintained by applying a good clear NON ABRASIVE type car wax ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] 1 or more times a year depending on environment and usage. This wont work on oil rubbed.