Brasso doesn't work to well for me because dried Brasso sticks in interstices and engraved areas and doesn't come off when it's polished. Then you have try to remove it with a toothpick.

Naval Jelly, although not listed for brass, does a good job - it rinses off. But it seems like it leaves the surface with sort of a raw color, not the deeper color that Brasso produces.

Any suggestions?

Hi Doug,
When using Brasso, I usually polish it off with a clean cloth while it is still wet, rather than waiting for it to dry as the instructions say. It is a lot easier to get it out of those engraved areas while wet than when dry.

Poston
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:Brasso doesn't work to well for me because dried Brasso sticks in interstices and engraved areas and doesn't come off when it's polished. Then you have try to remove it with a toothpick.
:
:Naval Jelly, although not listed for brass, does a good job - it rinses off. But it seems like it leaves the surface with sort of a raw color, not the deeper color that Brasso produces.
:
:Any suggestions?

http://www.nevrdull.com/

Nevr Dull is great stuff. Wish they didn't modify the can graphics. The old ones were nice. If you use brasso, let it dry. Then buff off as you normally do. Then rub dish detergent into the escutcheon. Scrub with an old tooth brush. Rinse in HOT water. Handle by edges during and after rinse so that you don't get finger prints on the brass. Bake in oven at 200 degrees. Turn oven on and let it get to temperature one or two times. Then turn it off and let the escutcheon sit for about 15 or 20 minutes. Remove and allow to cool slightly. Coat with clear lacquer. Acrylics will haze. Acrylic lacquer is okay, but other acrylics are crappy.

Thomas

I ran out to my neighborhood ACE Hardware and bought a can of Nevr-Dull. It does work very well.

On additional thing I learned: Nevr-Dull makes quick work of removing the dried Brasso left in the crevices of a brass escutcheon. Don't know if it's as good Thomas' approach.

Nevr-Dull also seems to do a good job polishing chassis. It's approved for steel and aluminum, as well as brass.

Humm.. NevDull sounds great.
I have also found nice results for really cleaning up metal oxidation as well as general cleanups... BAM ! .. it's made by Easy-off. BAM is a houshold spay bottle type cleaner. Really de-oxidizes stuff quite easily.

The problem I've had with Nevr Dull, though, is that it scratches silver. It doesn't seem to scratch the brass blades on my electric fans, but they're not mirror bright, either. You can see your reflection in them...they're nice, but not flawless. With escutcheons you probably don't have enough surface to notice scratches. I wasn't fond of Nevr Dull on the brass mirror dial of my Crosley Super 11 (1117). Mothers did an okay job. It was perfect from the factory, but now, upon close inspection, it is slightly hazy. I guess part of the key is using a flawlesly soft rag for buffing. Paper towel doesn't help things.

Anyway, Nevr Dull is pretty awesome stuff for the most part. I keep my old tin stocked with new wadding. That way I still have the attractive tin.

Thomas

Thomas, regarding your recipe for baking before lacquering polished brass. Is your opinion that the lacquer is best applied to a warm surface?

Sort-of, but not really. I just like to be sure that the metal is absolutely dry. Baking also tends to remove some of the oils, if any. I've had such poor luck sometimes when I simply wash and then towel dry objects. I let them dry for a few hours. Sometimes I wipe with denatured alcohol and then allow to dry. I always get these spots where the paint won't stick. Baking the metal speeds the drying time and does a thorough job. I don't recommend hot baking, as you could ruin the metal or ruin temper if the object is temper sensitive.

I've experimented with painting warm or hot metal. The can always recommends room temperature. Warm metal speeds drying time. Hot metal does, too. It may cause trouble with painting if the paint drys too quickly, or if it dries as it is applied, which doesn't usually happen. I recommend that you let the metal cool at least a little. It's best when it's just warm, and not hot to the touch. Warm (or hot) metal causes the oils from your fingers to ooze more easily, so try not to touch the paintable surfaces when the metal is warm (it's best not to touch them at all). The can has the best recommendations for painting conditions. My experimental ideas won't necessarily produce better results. I just like to play around with things to see what will happen (often causing me to waste more time re-doing the project later).

After the paint has dried a little, I put the object back into the still warm oven. If the oven isn't warm, pre-warm it for a few cycles and then turn it off. If the oven is gas and has a pilot light, shut off the gas to the pilot light. Open your windows. The warm oven is going to make the lacquer give off a lot of fumes, which will make you light headed and may explode if you leave the pilot light on. I don't know if baking the paint while it dries helps things or not. I don't literally bake the paint. The oven is just warm, not running. I have good results with baking the paint. It tends to lay down more smoothly, as it stays soft longer. Paint that may be touchable at room temperature will still be tacky in the oven. Whether the paint is more durable or not after baking is beyond me. Lacquer tends to be brittle no matter what.

I'm sure paint experts could run circles around what I'm saying. I am just going by my experimental results.

Thomas

Regarding pilot lights, you can also simply blow out the oven pilot light if one is present (instead of turning off the gas, which can be difficult). These don't usually put out enough gas to be dangerous. My mother's 1963 Crown stove has a pilot light in the oven (and on the stove top). This blows out from time to time, and when it does, there's a faint gas smell in the room. Sometimes it's been out for hours. No harm done. With the windows open for drying paint, the minute trace of gas will probably discipate well.

I've been experimenting while polishing several badly tarnished brass escutcheons. I've adopted the following procedure, which incorporates the various ideas generously posted above.

1. Clean with Naval Jelly, twice. Rinse and dry.
2. Polish with Brasso 2-3 times, wiping off before it dries.
3. Polish with Nevr-Dull. Wipe clean.
4. Polish with very soft, clean rag.
5. Wash in dish soap solution. Rinse, dry with paper towels, keeping fingers off surface. Air dry thoroughly with hair dryer.
6. Spray with one coat of Ace Hardware gloss lacquer. When lacquer is thoroughly dry, polish lightly with a clean, soft silconized shoe-shine cloth.

No problems so far.

I wasn’t going to make a further reply on this subject, but if finally got the best of me. So, here are some of my comments about using various products.

Anything applied to a bright enough surface will dull it. This even includes wax. You wouldn’t apply wax on a pair of eye glasses in order to see through them better, nor would you put it on a mirror..

For instance, back when I was on the show car circuit, I never used wax on any kind of finish, be it paint, chrome or glass. For paint and chrome, I used a 3M product called Fill ‘N Glaze for cleanup, even though it is not really made for that purpose. It’s primary use is to fill the tiny swirl marks left by a buffing wheel, but it won’t do much of anything unless the surface is already buffed out with a fine compound. I still use this product with some of my radio work, especially after polishing a phenolic panel with a reflective finish. However, it doesn’t work on some surfaces such as synthetic enamel and catalin radio cabinets. Back in the old days, they used talcum powder to fill swirl marks, or so I have been told. Who knows? Talcum powder may even fill polish marks in brass.

I have seen TV commercials for a product that is supposed to instantly remove scratches from eye glasses. I have never tried it, but I suspect that it may do about the same thing as Fill ‘N Glaze. If it does, then it will likely brighten up the blades of an electric fan or a brass mirror.

Brasso is a polishing compound that is coarse enough to polish a soft metal that has been etched by a product such as Navel Jelly. With enough applications, Navel Jelly will also etch steel, so Brasso may have a tough time polishing it, unless it has already been worked down with something more harsh. Never Dull depends mostly on its somewhat coarse wadding to do its thing, so it is not likely to remove enough metal to polish an etched surface. I think the chemical embedded in it may add to the polish, but that may just be my imagination. I know for certain that the chemical can remove very light corrosion, so contrary to the instructions, as soon as the oily film covers an area, I usually allow it to remain there for a moment or so before continuing the polish.

If the corrosion is very light, or brass and nickel plated brass is just dull, this can usually be removed without etching the metal. Just soak it overnight in a container of Windex. I think the ammonia is what does the trick, but other chemicals may also be working. You can’t expect miracles from Windex, but it is the safest product that I know of for removing corrosion by soaking. If the cleaning is successful, then Never Dull may brighten it up a bit, and Brasso may dull it. That would depend on the condition of the metal to begin with.

To clean items faster than Windex, soak them in Tarnex. Tarnex is made to clean silver according to instructions, but when used as a soak, it etches silver, silver plate, copper, brass, nickel, and nickel plating Obviously, soaking should not be used for silver or rare coins. Tarnex does not etch steel or aluminum. A dull penny or dull brass dip may clean almost immediately, so there will be little or no etch. For heavier corrosion that requires soaking, it is a fairly slow etch, so can easily be controlled. Just keep an eye on the parts from time to time to see what they are doing. If you run off and forget it though, thin nickel plating may be removed overnight. Of course, if you rubbed all night long on the part with Brasso, a whole lot more metal would be removed, so don’t let the thought of etching scare you when it is used properly.

For a really fast etch, I use Kwick Kleen brass & copper cleaner. It’s some pretty mean stuff and will strip most brass absolutely clean in a few seconds or less. It will strip heavy nickel plate from brass in a few additional seconds. I have used it as a dip for most of my cleaning in the past 10 years or so, but was careful about learning to use it. If you try this product, use all precautions and absolutely DO NOT DIP STEEL IN IT, unless you want to watch a chemical go completely wild. It is available at:

http://www.kwickkleen.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=79

If anyone is interested in some of the methods I use for soaking and dipping Tarnex and Kwick Kleen, just say so and we will discuss them further.