How to antique polished brass

A. Hi, folks. Many very similar inquiries were asked & answered on this site. The readers who previously answered are probably resting, so while we are waiting for them to recover and hit this letter, search the site with terms like "patina brass", "darken brass", "shiny brass", and "antique brass" and you will find lots of answers. Some of those answers included "brass darkening solution [on eBay or Amazon]", which you might want to try.

Remember these points:
1). Everything that is brass-tone is not necessarily brass. Cheap shower doors are aluminum, "lifetime finish" door hardware isn't brass, lots of brass-look stuff is either reflective paint or nickel plating followed by a brass tint lacquer.
2). Most "brass" stuff is just a thin plating of brass on steel, which may not hold up to the antiquing treatments (you might perforate the plating and start rusting). Antiquing works much better on solid brass.
3). Brass tarnishes very quickly. If your item isn't tarnished, either it has a lacquer or clear coat on it (which must be removed before antiquing) or it's not really brass.

But if you are confident that it is brass, or if you are willing to risk that it is, let's carry on :-)

Regards,

A. Hi Thea. These sound like solid brass.

If you are not sure that the lacquer is gone, test it with a meter -- brass is conductive, lacquer is not.

If the lacquer is off, it will tarnish by itself eventually, but you can quickly turn it brown if you wish with brass darkening solution [on eBay or Amazon]. Good luck.

Regards,

A. An air tight bucket with a shelf of some sort and place the brass to be antiqued inside. since brass introduced to an ammonia [on eBay or Amazon] based atmosphere acquires a natural patina ... it is fairly obvious now that all you need is white ammonia in the bucket as well. the process can take as long as minutes or days depending on desired look.

p.s.: ammonia evaporates fairly fast so replace when you can barely smell any longer. just don't take a big ole whiff might make you sick 'n burn your lungs.

I tried the ammonia solution with some small jewelry charms I bought and it worked AMAZING! I just took some mesh/tulle and placed the charms in them, grabbed an old glass jar, filled it with household ammonia, laid the mesh over the top so that it was holding the charms above the ammonia, and screwed the lid on catching the mesh between the lid and the jar to hold it. I only let it sit for about 10 minutes and it did a great job. Check frequently as mine changed so quickly - the difference between the 5 minute mark to the 10 minute mark was substantial.

Good luck!

A. You can darken even bright brass "finished" newer hardware. Apply lacquer thinner [on eBay or Amazon] to metal careful NOT to rub back and forth this will remove the finish we want to soften it. Apply black Leather Dye [affil links], it is thin and will [not] interfere with hinges, etc. This dye can be found at shoe repair or tack and saddle or leather shops, or online. It takes very little so unless your doing many, many pieces a small bottle will do. Cost is around $10 apply thin coat over the entire surface, let stand 15-30 mins. until it looks somewhat dry then with a clean dry lint free rag wrapped tight around your finger carefully wipe excess dye of surface until you get the coloring you want. You can also dab it with the crinkled-up rag for a textured look. When completely dry rub with your fingers or thumb (your skin texture should remove any fibers). You can try to seal it with a spray can of clear finish. CAUTION... very light coats for it may "lift" the entire finish off the metal Good Luck Scott.

Dyeing the lacquer/clearcoat instead of removing it sounds like a cool idea for some situations, Scott. Thanks!

Regards,

A. Hi, Adam. You probably didn't get the coating off because the coating probably isn't brass lacquer (you should be able to tell with a meter; if you're down to brass it will be conductive). Aircraft Stripper will almost surely get any clearcoating off without harming the brass no matter what it is, but it's methylene chloride, which is really noxious, toxic stuff. So rubber gloves [on eBay or Amazon], goggles [on eBay or Amazon], and excellent ventilation (working upwind outside) are absolutely mandatory.

Regards,

Hi Joel. It will probably turn brown over time if dry and not handled. If it is zippers pulls or other things that see perspiration, handling, and a lot of dampness, a green coloration is probably more likely.

Never owned a convertible top where the rear window zipper didn't get stuck with green corrosion :-)

Regards,