Summary for brass lamp tarnish removal Discussion
The focus keyphrase, brass lamp tarnish removal, comes up in a question from Margaret Altink, who says an old Dutch tiered brass lamp is taking too much effort to clean with Brasso and 00 steel wool and asks whether an acid bath would work if the lamp were dismantled. Ted Mooney replies that Brasso is effective but very slow, while acid-containing cleaners such as Barkeeper’s Friend liquid soft cleanser work faster; he says the fastest option is vinegar plus salt, though that can leave brass very orange and may require going back over it with Brasso to restore a warm glow. He also cautions that the lamp may never have been buffed to a shine in the first place: only smooth brass can be chemically polished to a true shine, while rough cast brass needs mechanical buffing with a power wheel and compound. A later question from Sandi Freeman about paint removal and a copper hue gets the same advice from Ted: patient Brasso application should bring brass color back.
Q. I have just bought an old Dutch tiered brass lamp. I have been rubbing it with Brasso
⇦ on
or
Amazon [affil link] but it is too much work. I have also tried using fine 00 steel wool
⇦ on
eBay or
Amazon [affil link] . Too much hard work also …it would take the rest of my life. Is there any acid bath that this lamp, if dimantled, could be dipped in? Thank you.
Margaret altink
hobbyist – France, Besneville, Manche
August 10, 2008
A. Hi, Margaret. The first issue is removing the tarnish.
Brasso
⇦ on
or
Amazon [affil link] is great but terribly slow. Other polishes like
Barkeeper’s Friend liquid soft cleanser
⇦ on
eBay or
Amazon [affil link]
contain acids and are much faster. The fastest of all is vinegar
⇦ in bulk on
or
Amazon [affil link] plus salt, but this leaves brass very orange, so you’d need to go back to something like Brasso for a while to restore the warm glow.
The second issue is that you may be expecting shine and the brass may never have been buffed to a shine. The only things that shine are smooth things. If these items were rough cast brass they can only be shined by buffing (a power wheel and compound), they can’t be shined with chemicals. Good luck.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com – Pine Beach, New Jersey
Need quick confidential answers? $25
Need project assistance? $100/hr.
August 12, 2008
A. Try 5% ammonium citrate(50 gm citric acid/1 Lit water+some ammonia, pH must be 9!).Hope it helps and good luck!
Goran Budija
– Cerovski vrh Croatia
August 13, 2008
Q. We live in an old house in Scotland that has a front door with an inordinate amount of door furniture, some of which is bronze, some brass and some “copper” brass. The pink seems to be the result of some sort of chemical treatment – there are splotches and obvious patches of brass showing through on the back. I would like to turn the remaining brass this colour – it goes quite nicely with the bronze. Does anyone know what I should use?
Sarah Woodbury
hobbyist – Ormiston, East Lothian, UK
August 28, 2008
A. Hi, Sarah. It’s obviously hard to discuss metal colors with text rather than pictures, so if you can send a photo, that would help. But vinegar plus salt will tend to dissolve some of the zinc out of the brass, or “dezincify” it — which leaves it a raw color that some would describe as orange or salmon rather than warm and golden. It might be a stretch to call it copper colored.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com – Pine Beach, New Jersey
Need quick confidential answers? $25
Need project assistance? $100/hr.
August 28, 2008
Q. I have just purchased a beautiful brass wall hanging (bijan).
It was painted I used hot vinegar to get the paint off.
Now it has a copper hue to it — what can I do?
sandi freeman
– girard ohio usa
October 4, 2012
A. Hi Sandi. We appended your inquiry to a thread where the topic was already being discussed. Patient application of Brasso will bring it back to brass color. Good luck.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com – Pine Beach, New Jersey
Need quick confidential answers? $25
Need project assistance? $100/hr.
October 4, 2012
How to de-zincify brass to make it red
Q. I need to dezincify brass wire 85/15 Zn to obtain a redder finish.
What’s the process, and what chemicals would I use?
Bernie Kelly
– Chelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom
January 22, 2014
A. Hi Bernie. Zinc is a much more active metal than copper, and either acid or alkaline can dissolve some of the zinc, leaving the brass redder. Simply cleaning brass with vinegar and salt will give it a raw, reddish cast. Immersing it in salt water for extended periods will turn it reddish too. The thing is, this discoloration probably doesn’t extend very deep and therefore probably isn’t very permanent.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com – Pine Beach, New Jersey
Need quick confidential answers? $25
Need project assistance? $100/hr.
January 2014
Achieving a Rose Gold Finish on Brass 85/15 zn
Q. Dear sir.
We are looking to achieve a Rose gold finish with brass wire 85/15 zn. Then passivate and lacquer, which should seal the surface (retaining the redness).
Any thoughts please?
Best regards,
Bernie Kelly [returning]
– Chelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom
January 23, 2014
Bernie,
There is a very simple patina process that works nicely for creating a red gold on most copper alloys, it’s called rokusho.
There are several jewelry suppliers who will sell you a pre-mixed rokusho, or you can locate a fairly simple and easy recipe on the internet.
Failing that, an mild acid wash will probably give you a similar (or better) coloration.
Marc Banks
Blacksmith – Lenoir, North Carolina USA