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-----Buffing of Copper
Q. I would like to know whether copper buffing is possible.
Since I have a great hobby to collect copper vessels but I stay near the sea my vessels turn black.
I repeatedly polish them but no use.
Could You please suggest some permanent solution to keep my copper vessels polished
Thanking,
- Mumbai, India
2005
A. The nature of the problem, Dr. Dsouza, is that copper tarnishes such that buffing it may be fine but it will always immediately start tarnishing. You can apply benzotriazole ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] as a corrosion inhibitor, or coat the items with Incralac ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] or Permalac [adv: Permalac on eBay], which are a combination of lacquer and corrosion inhibitor. The thing that troubles me, though, is use of the word "vessel"; I would not drink out of copper vessel or store a drink in it.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
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