how to polish bronze

[markham mcgill]

I don't know about the CD community at large, but the original bronze parts on my weekender are discolored, and i have purchased every damn overpriced polish to no avail. anybody have any ideas? would some kind of acid work? wire brush? what...

thanks!



coolconch@aol.com

[D. Stump, Hanalei]

Mark,
Try On&Off hull cleaner. It is an acid, but will remove the green real quick. It will be messy, so have a fresh water hose available to wash it off immediately. The problem is, it will turn green again within a month unless you protect it somehow, maybe a wax. Don't try lacquer for a protectant. The salt air will penetrate it and it will turn green in spots. FWIW...

Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30

[Larry Demers]

Mark,

I have tried every thing in the store..including acids and bases like toilet-bowl cleaner. While yes it did change the metal to bright beautiful brass which shined what, all of maybe 10 minutes before like magic, a dark blue/black color took over the brass. Then we spent the next 3 years cleaning and swearing at the darn stupidity of trying to change something that naturally tarnishes into something that does not. The problem is that our ports were unpolished brass, which has pits and pores in it. This traps the cleaner and does not get cleared with the water rinse-off. So the tremendous color change after using the chemicals.

We have used Bon-Ami,..and that stuff is good too..on polished metal, but not porous metal surfaces. So we have learned to like the greenish petina that the ports have (yes, even in fresh water they turn like this).

This was the worst project I have ever taken on..and an utter failure. 9 years after doing the original monkeying around, we can still see some of the discoloration of the metal..but the majority has returned to that dark greenish patina.

Don't monkey with it..go sailing!

Regards,

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30 ~~~~~~Sailing Lake Superior~~~~~

Mark,
Try On&Off hull cleaner. It is an acid, but will remove the green real quick. It will be messy, so have a fresh water hose available to wash it off immediately. The problem is, it will turn green again within a month unless you protect it somehow, maybe a wax. Don't try lacquer for a protectant. The salt air will penetrate it and it will turn green in spots. FWIW...

Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30

demers@sgi.com

[D. Stump, Hanalei]

Mark,

Larry is absolutely correct, go sailing, don't worry about tarnished brass, except maybe inside the vessel. My cabin lights were badly tarnished. I checked cost to replace all 7 of them, at least 100 dollars apiece! To remedy that, I took all lamps off the vessel last winter, took them home and disassembled them (10 pieces each), stripped each piece with paint remover to remove the lacquer finish, buffed each piece on a buffing wheel, cleaned them all, relacquered all pieces and reassembled them. They now look like new and are not re-tarnishing. But, that was for brass that is for internal use only, I would not do that for anything external.

When I bought Hanalei, Carol asked Gordon Swift, the boatyard manager, if the portlights could be polished. His reply was "What, don't you want her to look like she's ever been anywhere?" The green adds character...go sailling!!!

Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30

[Rick Parish]

I have also been very dissatisfied with commercial cleaners. Too much work for little improvement on really dirty bronze. My Typhoon was built in 1965 and the bronze was never cleaned. Here's what finally worked for me last spring when I bought the boat. 1. soak the bronze parts in coke or pepsi over night. 2. soak the bronze parts in a a mixture of 1/2 hot vinegar and 1/2 hot water. Let soak over night. Both options worked for me. Option 2 worked slightly better. Some parts, like the outboard motor bracket took two soakings (2 nights with fresh vinegar each day) because they were coated with a greasy dirt. After the over night soaking it only took a light application of brasso to complete the job.

I don't know about the CD community at large, but the original bronze parts on my weekender are discolored, and i have purchased every damn overpriced polish to no avail. anybody have any ideas? would some kind of acid work? wire brush? what...

thanks!

rick.parish@hbcfield.Honywell.com

[Tod]

see link below.



htmills@bright.net