How to Clean Brass and Protect from Tarnishing

A. Hi. A picture is worth a thousand words, Arty. I don't know whether you mean half of one surface is shiny and the other half is dull, or the front of something is shiny but the back is dull like on a door knocker, or what. Plus, sometimes surfaces are plated, sometimes not; sometimes they're lacquered, sometimes not.

You can consider whether there is a faded lacquer of clearcut, or whether the dull area was never polished, and some other ideas, but I think good clear photos (e-mailed to mooney@finishing.com) would help us understand your situation and be able to suggest a fix :-)

Luck & Regards,

A. Hello,

Your brass light fixtures probably already have a lacquer finish from the manufacturer. If you feel they don't, clean the brass with a lacquer thinner ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] Warning! highly flammable! . If a bunch of gunk comes off, that would be the old lacquer. Keep stripping the lacquer off and polish the brass, then wipe off any polishing compound with the lacquer thinner ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] Warning! highly flammable! , get some decent exterior grade acrylic lacquer, spray, let dry and you are done. I'd wait at least a few months before doing any of this, it should be enough time to see if the brass was lacquered originally.

Brass Lacquers

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A. Yes, folks, that's what brass lacquer is for. You can find out more about the technology of brass lacquers from G.J. Nikolas [a finishing.com supporting advertiser], and contact them for quantities of it.

For small quantities for home use, you can buy a spray can of brass lacquer. Good luck with it!

A. Hi Katherine. Brass lacquer will 'seal' it at least temporarily and is easily redone. But it's hard to say whether it's possible to get the stains out without a lot more info. Bleach attacks the zinc in brass but not the copper and it may not be possible to remove the stains short of polishing; and if it's plated brass rather than solid brass, the stains may be as deep as the plating.

Luck & Regards,

A. Hi. Brass lacquer should have a long life indoors.

Luck & Regards,

Incralac
(brass lacquer with benzotriazole)

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Amazon

(affil links)

A. Indoors You can use any good nitrocellulose based lacquer, outdoors only 2-component epoxy or Incralac ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] .

Good luck!

A. We appended your question to a thread that hopefully will at least partially answer it, David. You didn't say whether the lacquer failed in ten days vs. ten years though. If it failed immediately it was low quality; if after a while, brass lacquer is not permanent, but is meant to be periodically removed and replaced. Good luck.

Brasso

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A. You can use lacquer thinner ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] Warning! highly flammable! to remove the lacquer, then use Brasso ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] to clean the parts -- there are lots of threads in the archives that give variations on the process (if you want more detailed instructions).

A. Please check to see if the fixtures are solid brass or brass plate. You can use a magnet. Using a magnet to check if the item is solid brass will or not will only work if the non solid brass item is plated steel, it will not tell you if the item is plated brass over zinc die cast.

If brass plated, the use of an abrasive cleaner may remove the brass or the discoloration might be through what could be a thin brass coating (flash over nickel). If the items are plated, you might consider painting the fixtures as a way to reduce your cost vs replacing.

A. Unfortunately you cannot do brass plating yourself, Verlin. Your choices are to find a paint you like (maybe a brass toned one) or send it to a plating shop for replating. The latter is likely to cost as much or more than an inexpensive replacement, and would only be applicable if the lamp were very high quality, antique, hard to replace, or of sentimental value.

A. Hi Hector.

lacquer thinner ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] Warning! highly flammable! or even acetone ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] Warning! highly Flammable! should remove the lacquer easily (if it's lacquer rather than some higher tech clearcoat). It's fine to just polish it after removing the lacquer, but it will have to be done often if you wish to keep it bright. Good luck.

P.S.: If I were emperor, it would be illegal to have a band without a sax :-)

Regards,

A. Hi, Sophia. Acrylic sealer might work okay. The principal advantage of brass lacquer is probably the ease of removal with lacquer thinner ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] Warning! highly flammable! . If you put acrylic sealer on and it starts fading or chipping, or the brass starts tarnishing in areas, it's not easy to get it off to redo, but probably requires aircraft stripper.
which is really noxious stuff. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi. Brass lacquer is simplest.

Luck & Regards,

Beeswax polish


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Amazon

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A. I am finally getting my antique brass bed cleaned with no tarnish. I was planning to apply beeswax ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] to keep the dirt and tarnish at bay. I am a senior so my energy is limited. Actually I am hoping I never have to do anything other than washing again! I was going to get rid of this bed but discovered that the frame (original) is very rigid making arising easier and safer.