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I have decided, for various reasons, to paint my elderly mushrooms so I don't have to polish them any more. Any paint boffins out there who could offer advice on whether there is any prep required prior to painting and is there a specific paint to use. Thank you.

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5 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Will you paint them red with white spots? ?

 

I wonder, can you powder coat brass? 

I painted mine with red paint but stopped short of spots. Twas on the advice of a certern Mr. Bowern who suggested that otherwise folks would nick them...

A coat of best Admiralty red lead undercoat (oh - happy days) and standard colour on top.

A bit daft - why spend loadsa monai on Best Boatman's Cabin brassware and then cover them up...

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35 minutes ago, colmac said:

I have decided, for various reasons, to paint my elderly mushrooms so I don't have to polish them any more. Any paint boffins out there who could offer advice on whether there is any prep required prior to painting and is there a specific paint to use. Thank you.

I always paint mine, life is way too short to pee about polishing brass. I just give em a quick light rub down to key em then whack a coat of undercoat and one or two of topcoat. Simples. Mine are red, on a previous boat I did put spots on them but not this one.

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5 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

I painted mine with red paint but stopped short of spots. Twas on the advice of a certern Mr. Bowern who suggested that otherwise folks would nick them...

A coat of best Admiralty red lead undercoat (oh - happy days) and standard colour on top.

A bit daft - why spend loadsa monai on Best Boatman's Cabin brassware and then cover them up...

I don’t mind brass left to tarnish. 

But maybe I’ll polish mine. I’ll try it. Could be a good feeling to have nothing better to do than polish brass. A demonstration of having time to spare. 

 

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3 minutes ago, Goliath said:

I don’t mind brass left to tarnish. 

But maybe I’ll polish mine. I’ll try it. Could be a good feeling to have nothing better to do than polish brass. A demonstration of having time to spare. 

 

Goodness gracious!! Go to the pub a very sensible use of spare time ?

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Just now, Goliath said:

Yes, you’re right. 

And as it happens I’m in the pub. 

? 

 

I’d never use pub time to polish brass. Never. Ever. 

 

 

Take the "mushrooms" to the pub with you.

 

You can polish them in the pub whilst imbibing a few, also safe in the knowledge the vents will not get nicked whilst you are in said pub. ;)

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If you have a lot to do then the stuff to use is ferric chloride, its not dear but it will etch the brass (and finger nails and hands)  I use it on metal castings, it is lethal stuff and will produce visible fumes or smoke but it doesn't half etch brass well. Mind you whenever I accidentally splash paint on me mushrooms the paint seems to stick like glue so maybe any old paint will do.

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2 hours ago, Goliath said:

Will you paint them red with white spots? ?

 

I wonder, can you powder coat brass? 

 

Short answer is yes. My boat has the majority of brightwork (aluminium mushrooms & window frames, brass Houdini hatches, wayleads & navigation lights) powder coated. After 12 years the coating on the brass bits is still in excellent condition, unlike the aluminium bits where the coating is failing badly.

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I hope none of the old boaters can read this - they would be turning in their graves.  I used to polish, then grease if the weather was wet.  What else would you do on long straight stretches, but polish the brass?  and make coffee, of course.  Alec Purcell made a comment about unpolished brass once. I was ashamed.

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The Union Steam Ship Company a cadet training ship whose bridge had more brass then  Admiralty HQ. Polishing this brass formed a major part of life at sea  for  the new  cadets. But over the years, on this ship, more and more of this brass was "polished" with white paint instead of brasso. Until a new officer was posted onboard. One who had been on the original intake of cadets on her maiden voyage and knew from much first hand experience where all the brass was hidden. The new shipboard task for the next few cadet intakes then became stripping paint prior to polishing brass.

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Painting brass is sacrilege. @mrsmelly  does that, but only because he was such a naughty boy in the Navy that the very smell of Brasso causes a PTSD episode.  I refuse to accept that other ex-sailors let the side down, and there's no excuse for civilians having dull or painted brasswork other than pure sloth. Anyway, without a mast, with carrying a sword being a touch illegal and with keelhauling being frowned upon by the snowflake generation, how are you going to punish your crew if there's no brass to polish?  :captain:

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6 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Painting brass is sacrilege. @mrsmelly  does that, but only because he was such a naughty boy in the Navy that the very smell of Brasso causes a PTSD episode.  I refuse to accept that other ex-sailors let the side down, and there's no excuse for civilians having dull or painted brasswork other than pure sloth. Anyway, without a mast, with carrying a sword being a touch illegal and with keelhauling being frowned upon by the snowflake generation, how are you going to punish your crew if there's no brass to polish?  :captain:

The army would paint stones along path edges, so the navy could indulge in cleaning the old paint off the brass until the surface is perfect and then repaint - repeat.........

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I am suffering serious withdrawal symptons since we sold our motor - no more acres of copper and brass to shine on the Kelvin.  Our restored  butty is in the austere black and white FMC livery with no brass in sight not even a brass chimney chain.  Added to that OH doesn't allow me to clean the cabin brass because she says I miss bits and can't be trusted to do it properly.

Mind you since the reformulation of Brasso, you no longer get that wonderful evocative smell.

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1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

Painting brass is sacrilege. @mrsmelly  does that, but only because he was such a naughty boy in the Navy that the very smell of Brasso causes a PTSD episode.  I refuse to accept that other ex-sailors let the side down, and there's no excuse for civilians having dull or painted brasswork other than pure sloth. Anyway, without a mast, with carrying a sword being a touch illegal and with keelhauling being frowned upon by the snowflake generation, how are you going to punish your crew if there's no brass to polish?  :captain:

It wasnt just when we were naughty boys you old goat!! We had some poxy portholes on our " Part of ship " you know what I mean. We had to polish em when we were in arbour and occasionaly at sea even up the poxy ice!! Cleaning brass encrusted in salt is a pain in the posterior ? Besides whats the point of damaging yer brass by continuously rubbing the top surface away thats protecting it!! Just as daft as polishing bloomin boat paintwork, have you ever done that? Look at the cloth when you have done it and see what colour it is, then ask yourself why its the same colour as yer paint!!

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18 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

It wasnt just when we were naughty boys you old goat!!

Ah, then you admit that you were a naughty boy!  You probably got to polish the portholes in your part of ship because you were the most experienced! :P

 

Anyway, my boat paintwork is not highly polished, it's battleship grey because I have a supply in my garage that I was given as a retirement present. Well, not exactly a present, or on my retirement - I liberated a 5 gallon drum every Christmas and didn't have a boat 'til I retired so by the time I found a use for it I had 170 gallons.  I never comment on anchor threads either, because mine came from the Ark Royal and I'm not sure they've stopped looking for it yet. There's also a reason why my Eberspacher sounds like a gas turbine out of a Lynx helicopter... 

 

 

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13 hours ago, Chris Williams said:

I hope none of the old boaters can read this - they would be turning in their graves.  I used to polish, then grease if the weather was wet.  What else would you do on long straight stretches, but polish the brass?  and make coffee, of course.  Alec Purcell made a comment about unpolished brass once. I was ashamed.

The chimney chain on Pipaluk, which used to belong to Maurice & Eileen Peasland has been polished so much the links are half their original width.

NB Pipaluk.JPG

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The mushroom vents on my boat are red, complete with white spots, as they should be. Don't believe the previous replies. All old working boats used to paint them this way and the working boatpersons were very proud of them ?. It is only since they were preserved that people have polished the brass in an completely inauthentic way. The paint does have a tendency to chip off smooth brass and this happens on mine. Some sort of etch to get a key is recommended. Not used it myself, but Halfords rattle can etch primer has a good reputation for providing a suitable surface for painting brass. The paint you use on top needs to be red and you absolutely have to add white spots. We will be around to check later.

 

Jen

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4 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Painting brass is sacrilege. @mrsmelly  does that, but only because he was such a naughty boy in the Navy that the very smell of Brasso causes a PTSD episode.  I refuse to accept that other ex-sailors let the side down, and there's no excuse for civilians having dull or painted brasswork other than pure sloth. Anyway, without a mast, with carrying a sword being a touch illegal and with keelhauling being frowned upon by the snowflake generation, how are you going to punish your crew if there's no brass to polish?  :captain:

Very few canals with enough depth to keel haul a poorly performing crew member. It should be added to the reasons why CaRT should do more dredging.

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2 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Very few canals with enough depth to keel haul a poorly performing crew member. It should be added to the reasons why CaRT should do more dredging.

 

Yeah, ok Jen, you're right, but let me have a bit of artistic licence then I won't fee obliged to point out that...

 

2 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

The mushroom vents on my boat are red, complete with white spots, as they should be. 

they'll be toadstool vents! :D

 

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Thank you all. As an ex-matelot and merchant seaman ( EDH Lifeboats ) I have painted a yard or two of brass especially on No. 9's ( matelots will understand the reference ) The mushrooms in question are 22 years old and have been polished to death so a coat of paint , pushers red lead sounds good, is the answer.

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48 minutes ago, colmac said:

Thank you all. As an ex-matelot and merchant seaman ( EDH Lifeboats ) I have painted a yard or two of brass especially on No. 9's ( matelots will understand the reference ) The mushrooms in question are 22 years old and have been polished to death so a coat of paint , pushers red lead sounds good, is the answer.

Cor blimey.........14 days nines innitt ☹️ been there, done that, got the T shirt :cheers:

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21 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Goodness gracious!! Go to the pub a very sensible use of spare time ?

This morning before the pubs opened I thought I’d take a couple of vents off and take them inside (so no-one could see me polishing). 

Anyway the dark greens of the patina all came up lovely. 

So I’m gonna leave them. 

Why remove or paint over years of patina?

Some things are best left. ?

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