How to Clean Brass Beds (cont'd)

A. Don't use muriatic acid! It's dangerous to use, the fumes will rust everything in the neighborhood, and it's no good for brass anyway. vinegar and salt is safe for people but powerful and very aggressive on brass -- which is why it's now red (some of the zinc has been eaten out of the alloy at the surface). Use a mild polish like Brasso [on eBay or Amazon] and it will come back to the warmer brass color soon if not immediately.

A. I have been working on refinishing an old brass bed all week. I have been using "Barkeepers Friend" [on eBay or Amazon] and it seems to be working very well. I make a paste with the powder and then apply it with a sponge - you have to rinse by rubbing it with a clean cloth while spraying the water over it, or there is a film left, but once it is all dried it looks beautiful. I have found this to work perfectly for stainless steel sinks,and all my aluminum pots and copper pans, too - I received a sample of it with my new Calphalon pans and just love it.

A. I bought my "over a 100 yr. old" solid brass bed in 1969. The first cleaning was slow, probably because of an original lacquer and I should have used a solvent on it. But after that time I could polish it with Brasso in just a few hours and I only did it once every year or more. Even waiting 8 years, it has mellowed to a lovely patina. Not getting fingerprints on it helps to keep the patina even. I find I prefer it to the glaring gold and I find the new lacquered beds to look a bit phony. A friend said Ketchup cleans brass easily and safely. I may try it. I think people should not be perfectionists in the cleaning process. Let the patina grow as part of the charm of a true antique. It's all good.

A. Barkeepers Friend [on eBay or Amazon] is the best ever for cleaning brass. I was amazed! its cheap, fast and easy.

A. There is patina, and there is crud and there are no rules to say which is which. If you have a real antique piece, patina is desirable, but most of the time, you might decide to go for the clean stuff. I just tried the Lysol toilet cleaner, as suggested here, on an old copper nightstand. The piece had gone black, and it was too big a job for brasso. Plus, brasso might leave traces, even after rinsing. I did not use steel wool, just a sponge, and I rinsed immediately and very carefully and dried the piece with rags. It works wonders, the result is immediate, faster than vinegar, lemon juice or coca cola. Coke works well for regular cleaning, I knew a barman who used it daily on his heavy copper bar to take the glass marks out. I plan to cover my nightstand with a protective matte lacquer from Peacock laboratories (Permalac [adv: Permalac on eBay]). The product is a bit expensive, but it is the best on the market and you do not get that unpleasant shine. We need to protect copper here in Savannah, as there is a lot of sulfur [affil links] in the air.

September 3, 2008 C'mon now, Garance, it's been over for 140 years; you can quit complaining about the gunpowder in the air from the War of Northern Aggression :-) Regards, Ted Mooney, P.E. Striving to live Aloha finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. I have personally used sprayable phosphoric acid to cut through the coffee-colored tarnish on a 100+ year old solid brass bed. This worked great. Then I found a muriatic acid product that was a "synthetic" type without all of the dangers and I flooded the bed with it.

Yes, it did leave streaks which I was able to remove with either "000" steel wool [affil link on Amazon] or an "extra-fine" padded sanding block. This produced a "wonderful" brushed satin finish which I liked over the garishness of polished brass. I was also able to achieve the same result with my Dremel [on eBay or Amazon] and the #512 sanding puff (purple in color and about a 380 grit). You could rub each section as you finish it to prevent tarnishing.

I chose to wait until I saw a slight patina form then I hit it with the linseed oil [affil links] to keep it in this state.

A. Hi, Tom. If you are talking about a lot of railing and consequently a lot of lacquer thinner [on eBay or Amazon] and/or lacquer, G.J. Nikolas [a finishing.com supporting advertiser] is a specialist who can supply you with all of the materials related to refinishing brass.

I personally don't care for the idea of using toilet bowl cleaner on brass.

Regards,

A. On a brass bed I got at a thrift shop, I started with Barkeepers Friend [on eBay or Amazon] cleaner and elbow grease, and, although time intensive, years of crud did come off. To speed the process, I tried Brasso....no way! Then, I tried toilet bowl cleaner. That seems to be the better alternative, if not so much crud, but Barkeepers Friend won. Will use toilet bowl cleaner when bed is assembled inside, as it is hard to use a powder cleaner indoors! So, elbow grease it is.

A. Hi, Cathy. Whether to paint it is a matter of taste. But it is difficult to get most paint to adhere to brass. The first coat needs to be a Self-etching primer [on eBay or Amazon] .

Regards,

A. Found Wrights Brass Polish [on eBay or Amazon] on Amazon.
I have 100 year old brass bed...Cleans like a dream...no bad smell. Just apply, rub and shine with a dry cloth!

A. Hi Robyn. With our modern technology it's very hard to tell what something which looks like brass is actually made of. So when you say you inherited it, does that imply it's a hundred years old or you don't know where it came from and its age?

The first easy test is a magnet. If it's magnetic, it's not brass, it's steel with some sort of coating or plating. If it's magnetic, it's either solid brass or possibly anodized aluminum (which should be noticeably light). The reason this matters is that solid brass can be repolished, whereas brass plating is thin and probably can't be, nor can aluminum. If you are seeing any rust, it's probably brass plated. If it's old and heavy and not magnetic, your worries are probably mostly over, since it's probably solid brass.

Next, if you're not sure whether you are looking directly at metal or at a clear or translucent coating, you're probably looking at a coating. You can verify a coating (of non-metal) with a resistance meter (an inexpensive meter set to resistance measurement) because metals conduct electricity and clear coats do not, so you'll see a low resistance if it's bare metal.

If it's not old and it's steel and it's non-conductive, you probably ought to stop because it may have a smokey tinted lacquer or translucent coating over nickel plating, so removing the lacquer will remove all of the yellow color.

Most lacquer removers / clear coat removers will not damage metal. Try acetone [on eBay or Amazon] / lacquer thinner [on eBay or Amazon] (warning: flammable!) first and you should see lacquer coming off as a gummy residue. If lacquer thinner [on eBay or Amazon] doesn't render the surface conductive, it's a clear coat that is not lacquer and requires a stronger stripper. Get aircraft stripper, goggles, and gloves and work on it outside and upwind. The aircraft stripper is very noxious to humans, containing methylene chloride.

Sorry I can't be really definitive, but people work hard to make brass plating look like solid brass, and to make anodized aluminum look like brass, and to make tinted lacquers look like brass plating, and to make clear coats that are more durable than lacquer ... it can be difficult to figure out what you have and how to treat it. Sorry.

Regards,

A. Hi Larry. I don't claim any actual experience with your situation; but brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, and it is possible to "de-zincify" brass, leaving it too coppery and thus too orange. Someone may have applied a too strong acid at some time in the past. It's unlikely that you can apply any chemical that will rectify the situation since zinc will dissolve quicker in whatever it is than copper will. But mechanical buffing may fix it -- or talk yourself into believing that it is the valued "tiger stripe" finish :-)

Sure, I think it's likely that there is steel/iron under-structure in stressed areas. Good luck with it.

Regards,

A. There's a product called "Mother's" that you can get at any auto parts store, etc. It's pretty good at cleaning and shining. Goes on like a regular car wax would, dries dull, and wipe/buff with clean cotton cloth.

A. The only brass cleaner I use is Liberty. It is truly the best and easiest. Was the only brand used by the company who I bought my brass bed from.

A. Two Words: POWER TOOLS!!! Gone are the days of hand polishing for me. I love copper and brass. It would take days to polish a large object, and it still wouldn't look like it was professionally done. Half the project would start to tarnish again before I was completely finished. LOL Now, I do it the professional way with a drill and metal polishing kit (compound and buffers). Youtube has great instructional videos too. You will never go back to hand polishing!!!

A. Tried acetone [on eBay or Amazon] and lacquer thinner [on eBay or Amazon]. Didn't work. We stripped the lacquer with gel paint stripper. Then used Rubbedin Metal Magic on fine 00 steel wool [on eBay or Amazon]. Even resorted to stainless steel curly kitchen pot scrubber. The bed looks amazing. We aren't going to get it re-lacquered. Just enjoy the less bright look and do the Metal Magic once a year. The four poster King brass bed looks fantastic now. I am in Perth Western Australia. Rubbedin products available online or at selected IGA stores.

A. Use ketchup on brass bed, let sit for 30 minutes, then use a good smelling dishwashing liquid, to clean off ketchup; wash and rinse with warm water, then use microfiber cloth.