Brass - to varnish or not to varnish?

[colinnorth]

I have been cleaning up the brasswork on my cratch frame. The brass is now lovely and bright and I would love to keep it this way BUT I am not a brass-polisher by nature. 

Should I varnish it (with yacht varnish)?

Or should I lacquer it with something like in the photo?

[zenataomm]

Either polish it or paint it.

[Tracy D'arth]

That lamp is bronze, worth money as scrap.  I used spray printing fixative to coat polished item till I learnt that they look better and last longer if ignored and allowed to tarnish.

[Tigerr]

I always sneered at the idea of lacquering polished brass. But then I certainly wasn't going to waste my life polishing stuff either. 

Then I had the brass vent covers polished and lacquered as part of a repaint, and 9 years later they were still like new. If you like the shiny look, and you are not handling the surface - lacquer is your friend. 

Of course it is also the advertising for the scrap-stealers, and while my covers were not stolen, I have heard of many others returning to find their boat stripped of shiny bits. 

[haggis]

Another owner on our shared boat polished the mushroom vents then put something on them to preserve the shine. Bad move! The vents quickly looked awful and it was almost impossible to get them looking good again.  Don't know what was used, some sort of varnish I suspect . 

When we got Kelpie her vents had been professionally treated and they still look really good and we have never had to touch them.. 

[john6767]

When our boat was repainted in 2015 the mushrooms were lacquered and they are basically the same today as when they are done and they have never been touched since.  It it is done properly then to can have shiny brass for a long time with no further effort, so to me it is worth it.

[Gardner]

Incralac is the stuff you need

[ditchcrawler]

9 minutes ago, Gardner said:

Incralac is the stuff you need

I agree with that

9 minutes ago, Gardner said:

Incralac is the stuff you need

I agree with that

[jonathanA]

incralac is good stuff but needs careful application and very hard to get a good finish with a brush, best to use the aerosol version, in which case you might as well use any aerosol laquer.  

 

all of them are bugger to get off but will come off easily if you don't want them to... 

[colinnorth]

THanks all decision made. No need for any further replies. If I could close the topic I would.

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, colinnorth said:

THanks all decision made. No need for any further replies. If I could close the topic I would.

 

And the reason you cannot is so that in the future, anyone with a similar question,  can do a search and find all the pearls of wisdom that have been provided.

 

It's not all about you !

[Stroudwater1]

 

1 hour ago, jonathanA said:

incralac is good stuff but needs careful application and very hard to get a good finish with a brush, best to use the aerosol version, in which case you might as well use any aerosol laquer.  

 

all of them are bugger to get off but will come off easily if you don't want them to... 

 

To remove some lacquers then acetone based  paint thinners often does the job well, nice smell too with caution.  

 

Other alternative is elbow grease with very fine oooo wire wool and brasso/ peek 

[jonathanA]

2 minutes ago, Stroudwater1 said:

 

 

To remove some lacquers then acetone based  paint thinners often does the job well, nice smell too with caution.  

 

Other alternative is elbow grease with very fine oooo wire wool and brasso/ peek 

Yes I've used acetone based nail polish remover in the past and fine wire wool or those green scouring pads. 

[ditchcrawler]

I think the stuff I used recommended cellulose paint thinners to remove it 

[Stroudwater1]

T

1 minute ago, ditchcrawler said:

I think the stuff I used recommended cellulose paint thinners to remove it 

 

Yes thats the stuff, smells of strong pear drops. Also good for cleaning brushes used for touching up some epoxy paints. Nail varnish remover is OK but I think its  diluted down. Care with it though as it can remove some paintwork  on the boat too  

[Nightwatch]

A slight move to off topic but similar.

 

I own two items that require (excuse the terminology) rebrassing.

 

what type of company does this please?

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Nightwatch said:

A slight move to off topic but similar.

 

I own two items that require (excuse the terminology) rebrassing.

 

what type of company does this please?

Is that the lacquer breaking down of brass plating 

[Nightwatch]

To be honest I’m not sure. On the side of the barometer it is worse. I need someone who knows to let me know.

[BEngo]

The best thing for keeping brass shiny is clear powder coating.  Lasts for years and years.

 

Where lacquer has been used and is breaking down, cellulose thinners (gunwash) is effective in removing the lacquer ready to repolish.

 

Re-brassing is an electroplaters job and the environmental controls are so costly there are not many about who will take on anything other than production jobs.

N

[Nightwatch]

I’ll get myself some cellulose thinners and give it a try. I don’t mind the periodic attack with polish.  Thanks to both.

Edited February 7 by Nightwatch

[LadyG]

3 hours ago, Nightwatch said:

A slight move to off topic but similar.

 

I own two items that require (excuse the terminology) rebrassing.

 

what type of company does this please?

I think you might find a college or even a watchmaker would be the person to contact

[Dav and Pen]

I used to put Vaseline on the brass portholes on my narrowboat during the winter when we were not using it much. Kept the brass good and easy to get off.

When I was a new deck apprentice with Shell Tankers on my first ship the mate had me brassoing the ship whistle every Saturday unless a gale was blowing, one Saturday I got hold of some grease and after polishing I smeared it over the whistle. A couple of days later the mate noticed it still looked shiny and knew what I’d done. It was a waste of time anyway for as soon as the midday whistle blew the steam turned the brass brown.

Edited February 7 by Dav and Pen
Context

[Stroudwater1]

10 hours ago, Nightwatch said:

I’ll get myself some cellulose thinners and give it a try. I don’t mind the periodic attack with polish.  Thanks to both.

Nice clock and barometer 👍

 

Would it be best to see if the cases are magnetic? I am pretty sure most brass if plated is plated to steel.  Ditchcrawler is right  it’s some lacquer chipped off causing tarnish of the brass underneath. As brass is relatively cheap it seems unusual to have plated this. They are good quality with a winding mechanism not quartz and wind up alarm for the clock 
 

it should come up well if you re polish once the lacquer is removed . Best to try a bit above the 12 at the back in the unlikely case it is plated. I would re lacquer after polishing . 
 

One caveat with brass clocks , some earlier ones, carriage clocks especially were gold plated/ gilded. Not good to polish. This was usually in the 1800s so yours isn’t likely to be. 

[Nightwatch]

1 hour ago, Stroudwater1 said:

Nice clock and barometer 👍

 

Would it be best to see if the cases are magnetic? I am pretty sure most brass if plated is plated to steel.  Ditchcrawler is right  it’s some lacquer chipped off causing tarnish of the brass underneath. As brass is relatively cheap it seems unusual to have plated this. They are good quality with a winding mechanism not quartz and wind up alarm for the clock 
 

it should come up well if you re polish once the lacquer is removed . Best to try a bit above the 12 at the back in the unlikely case it is plated. I would re lacquer after polishing . 
 

One caveat with brass clocks , some earlier ones, carriage clocks especially were gold plated/ gilded. Not good to polish. This was usually in the 1800s so yours isn’t likely to be. 

Thanks for your comments. Had them for years. First things I bought via eBay many moons ago. They are presently in my lads loft in Maidstone as we live onboard. I will have a go at them. Tried to sell them, half heartedly, a few years ago but didn’t get much interest. The clock ‘ding’ ships watches, which is really nice.

[ditchcrawler]

32 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

Thanks for your comments. Had them for years. First things I bought via eBay many moons ago. They are presently in my lads loft in Maidstone as we live onboard. I will have a go at them. Tried to sell them, half heartedly, a few years ago but didn’t get much interest. The clock ‘ding’ ships watches, which is really nice.

I quite like the bells.