How to do "oil rubbed" blackened finish on beaten copper sink?

A. Hi, Jesse.

The easiest way to apply a patina is simply to brush on a patinating solution. You can find patina solution in brown and other colors [affiliate link to product info on Amazon], and some may be the tone you seek.

Real oil rubbed bronze is achieved by applying a brown oxidizing solution to copper, then buffing away the patina from the corners and wear points, bringing back the copper look there. A "living" finish will continue to wear to brightness at high points and darken where there is no handling, but most people seem to prefer to clear coat the item when it looks the way they want it to. More about how to do oil rubbed bronze can be found on letter 34482. Achieving the burnished look, with wear points a lighter tone and recessed areas a darker tone, may take some skill and practice. Good luck!

A. Jesse, I am a little confused. Which is it? You can do one or the other. "oil rubbed" is usually brown to dark brown while "blackened" is just that.

adv.
My company can provide you the answer to either one in the form of chemical patinas or solvent dyes. Please contact me for more information. See our link below.

A. Real oil rubbed bronze is achieved by copper plating, then applying a brown patina, then buffing away the patina from the corners and wear points, bringing back the copper look there, Becky. If you are starting with black paint, you can't actually patina it. However, you can apply decorative copper paint, and achieve the burnished look, with wear points a lighter tone and recessed areas a darker tone, by repainting everything but the wear points black. It may take some skill and practice. Once you have close to the look you seek, a polyurethane "matte" topcoat is probably a good idea.

These sinks may (or may not) have had UV-cured or radiation cured topcoats, which are probably not practical for home owners to apply. I say that as preface to saying that the replacement topcoat may not be as hard and durable. You can try a do-it-yourself coating like an epoxy or polyurethane but these may discolor. Maybe a thinner top coat like Everbrite [a finishing.com supporting advertiser], repeated every few months, might leave a more natural look. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Barbara,
I think you are correct in assuming your sink has a protective coating. Apparently the coating could not withstand high temperatures. If you could find out who the mfg. of the sink is you could inquire what type of coating was used, i.e. solvent based, latex based. The next step is to decide how to repair the damage. As you probably figured out by now, the cleaners you used are meant to clean metal, and don't have the ability to penetrate the coating. Metal sculptors are good at restoring copper and brass, perhaps there is a good one in your area.

A. Hi. When wood furniture gets white stains the explanation is usually that the hot water or steam formed a milky emulsion with the lacquer top coat. Almost always it can be completely or substantially removed with dry heat (iron with towel, hair dryer, hot air gun) which vaporizes the water back out of the emulsion (see Topic 10275 for hundreds of success stories). Whether this has any applicability to your copper sink I can't say ... but please let us know!

Regards,

A. Hi, Leslie. Salt and acids like lemon juice or vinegar are bad, as well as all abrasive cleansers like Ajax or Comet. So I fear that normal occasional scrubbing will frequently be removing the patina.

Maybe you should consider your sink as much an art product as a utility item, and practice reapplying a patina, as opposed to searching for a one-time solution that you can do "without making things worse". Any form of sulfur, whether it be eggs, liver of sulphur, or whatever, should help it turn brown quicker. Some readers claim that dandruff shampoos with selenium sulfide will cause copper to brown up; I personally don't know if that's true, but if it is, that would be a good "soap" to clean it with.

Good luck.

Regards,

adv.
Leslie, our company sells a kit called Copper Patina Repair Kit just for this problem. It also comes with brown wax for maintenance. Good luck

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 which is a copper preservative. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi Doris. If you read through the previous discussion you will see that there are patina solutions available to restore the color; and you can apply an automotive clearcoat over them to protect the color from easily wearing off. But while simply putting color back on a sink is fairly easy, getting it to look aesthetically pleasing may not be. So you might see if there is a local artist or craftsperson experienced in this. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Bonnie,

Birchwood and Jax as well as a few others make specific patina finishing compounds that may meet your needs. They do take some skill and experience to use correctly, but used properly and with proper prep before application should do just what you need.

www.birchwoodtechnologies.com/store/Decorative-Antiquing.html

www.ishor.com/metal-cleaning/metal-oxidizers-and-colorants

everettsteel.com/metal-finishes-patinas-c-220_223.html

--Rama

A. For all applications I recommend using wax to protect color and prevent from stains.

Scanning through this thread explains why copper is a totally unsuitable material for a working sink.
Any patination is a thin weak layer and easily worn away. A bright polished finish is even worse and rapidly develops dark spots.
The problem seems to be confined to the US; the rest of the world uses ceramic or stainless steel (not the fashionable clear glass that shows every minuscule mark).

PS. If you must have a metal sink, don't omit to connect it to electrical ground.

  In order to not mislead readers from elsewhere, we should note that copper sinks remain a rarity in the US, though. Stainless steel and ceramic are most common here, too. Many are also 'solid surface' such as Corian, which, being the same material as the countertops, allows for one piece construction.

Regards,