Turning Brass Dark

A. Brings to mind Claudia Schiffer in her Victoria Secret diamond-studded bra, but I'm guessing that there's a typo there ...

For simple darkening of brass try liver of sulfur or brass darkening solution [on eBay or Amazon]. For more exotic reds and greens, etc., try to borrow from the library "The Colouring, Bronzing & Patination of Metals" [adv: this book on eBay, Amazon, AbeBooks] as it will give you the exact techniques to get exactly what you seek, and even has hundreds of color plates so you can see what you'll get.

Shine and lack of shine has something to do with cleanliness, opacity of the finish, etc., but also has a lot to do with topography, i.e., whether the surface is mechanically smooth or microscopically rough.

A. We have a highly visible company sign with the word "brass" on it spelled out in huge neon traced letters. We get a chuckle sometimes, when the last "s" does not light up at night, and we advertise "copper bras". Sorry I can't be more helpful, but I do know there are many formulations commercially available to blacken copper metals, I just have never tried them, myself.

Good Luck.

? Hi Rini, what look are you going for? Bright brass polish with teal letter contrast? Brown patina looks nice but guessing that's not the look you want..

A. Hi, Rini. You can remove the oxidation chemically with something strong like lemon juice plus salt, and follow that with the Brasso [on eBay or Amazon] to restore the warmth, but it will not be shiny without mechanical buffing with a buffing compound.

If you think about the difference between a mirror and white paint, you'll get the idea. Each reflects a very high percentage of the light, but the white paint scatters it instead of retaining the reflection angle. Even with all of the oxidation removed from your sign, it will scatter the light because of the roughness from all that outdoor exposure. So after the oxidation has been removed, you must mechanically smooth it via buffing if you want it shiny.

Then you'll want to lacquer or clear coat it to retain the shine. Good luck!

Regards,

"The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it."
    - The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

A. Hi Matthew. Some things aren't do-it-yourself. That sounds like something worthy of taking to a metals conservator because if you rub the names away, they're gone forever.

Regards,