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Oil rubbed finish for bronze handrail

Finishing.com search results find questions just like my own. But absolutely no responses or answers.

Wanted to read answers to the following question as have same problem: "Hello, I'm working on a bronze handrail that needs to have an oil rubbed finish, What exactly is that finish? I can replicate it with tool black, but I was hoping to find something that was less of an irritant to work with. thanks, Melissa"

Mark Block
- Winnipeg, MB, Canada
2002

Hi, Mark. That characterization isn't quite accurate -- we have quite a few threads with good answers to the oil-rubbed bronze question; letter 34482 may be one of the good ones for you. But you are clearly correct in noting that more people come to the web looking for help than wanting to offer it.

However, we have learned from sixteen years of doing this, that if you can interest the readers, then you can get them vested in thinking about your problem and taking the time to answer. That's why we continuously nag people to post the details of their own situation rather than asking generalized abstract questions. If you want readers to be more responsive to you, the best thing I can suggest is to post something like this:

"During the winter of 1888, my great grandfather built an ornate bronze handrail with an oil-rubbed finish around the balcony of the master bedroom of his farmhouse, so that the bishop, in performing the christening of my grandmother before the assembled townspeople below, who came out despite the Great Blizzard ..."  :-)

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2002

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August 25, 2010

I use easy black patina from sur fin. It's the same patina I use on steel.
Put it on with a spray bottle or a sponge, rinse off with water then lightly scrub with steel wool or scotchbrite.

David Jacobson
- Felton, California