21 replies to this topic

[mash valley]

Does anybody know how to bring brass fuses back to original shiny brass without the hell of buffing away for hours? Is there not a strong cleaning solution that they can simply be dipped into?

[bigjohn]

I usually give them a soak in brick acid [ you can usualy buy it from builders merchants about a fiver a gallon] use rubber gloves as it is corrosive and take care not to splash yourself.
  There was a thread some time ago about this.
Regards
John

[GRANVILLE]

For brass try this. Level teaspoon of Cream of Tartar and a teaspoon of washing up liquid. Pour on about half a mug of boiling water and stir. Drop in tarnished brass and be amazed. I read this one some time ago and was skeptical l but found Cream of Tartar readily available in small quantity on eBay so thought I'd give it a go. I wouldn't be writing this up if it hadn't worked wonders.

Dave

[mash valley]

Thanks Dave, i,m chuckling a bit, sounds like your winding me up, i,ll give it a go and post my results
cheers
andy

[auchonvillerssomme]

I tried patio cleaner as suggested in the thread John mentions and it worked well, but keep an eye on it.

[gem22]

Andy

If you want cream of tartar go into your local supermarket and get some. It's commonly used in baking and costs very little.

Garth

[mash valley]

Cream of tartar sorted, do i leave to soak overnight, couple of hours?

regards

andy

[GRANVILLE]

No wind-up. I had some brass Meccano gears etc that I wanted to brighten up so when I came across this I too was dubious but gave it a try. You'll see the tarnish/verdigris being dissolved before your eyes and I certainly didn't find it took more than a few minutes to transform some of the parts I was dealing with. I think the success or otherwise depends on the actual brass content. If only brass plated and an item has begun to rust through, then there is little anyone can do for it other than have it re-plated, but if solid brass I'm sure you'll be impressed.

Dave

[JulesW]

The old time showman's trick for brasswork on the hobby horses etc was HP sauce. Worked like magic, brush on leave overnight and rinse off.
Of course HP has been sold abroad so the recipe may have changed!

[mash valley]

Have tried the tartare trick but to no avail I'm afraid, I think something stronger needed on 100 year old fuses, even tried some drive band but nothing, thanks for the advice though!

Does anybody have a foolproof way of dipping a fuse and getting it back to brass???
May try the patio cleaner !!!!!

Andy

[auchonvillerssomme]

The patio cleaner worked for me but as I said, keep an eye on it. There are some, one I'm working on at the moment that has reached a certain point of shine but I can't take it any further, I think it has been subjected to some heat during its life, and I don't mean just the initial event.

Another problem is that that the new buffing mops seems looser than the older ones and not as efficient.

[GRANVILLE]

mash valley, on 22 June 2012 - 04:07 PM, said:

Have tried the tartare trick but to no avail I'm afraid, I think something stronger needed on 100 year old fuses, even tried some drive band but nothing, thanks for the advice though!

Does anybody have a foolproof way of dipping a fuse and getting it back to brass???
May try the patio cleaner !!!!!

Andy

Andy,

You do surprise me over this and obviously I would not have written it up had I not seen tremendous results with brass gears as previously mentioned. Could it be that in the past someone has lacquered the fuse you are working on and its got a covering which is preventing the tartare mix from getting at it?

Dave

[mash valley]

Hi Dave
im not saying it doesnt work on all bras, just the fuses (which i have many) i bet if i used it on a cap badge it would be great but im guessing that the fuses after being in the ground for nearly 100 years are just a bit to far gone

andy

[GRANVILLE]

Andy,

I can imagine what you mean. One final query. You are using Cream of Tartar & not Tartare Sauce? Whilst the two contain the same product, Cream of Tartar comes in a white powder form and looks highly suspect if you buy it via eBay when it arrives in a small 'dealer bag'!

Dave

[johnreed]

Sounds a bit fishy to me.

John

[auchonvillerssomme]

Cream of tartar will work if you mix it with a drop of lemon juice and use it like a metal polish, but it doesn't work well on fuzes, I tried it after the first post on the subject.

[mash valley]

haha..............it was definately cream of tartar powder!!

I found another thread somewhere and that said: place fuse in Halfords rust remover for three days then buff up with a brass wire brush attachment that fits to a drill, there was also a before and after pics and the reuslts looked perfect, i will try and post reults in a few days or so

andy

[bigjohn]

Still recon brick acid, Was given a German artilery cartridge case turned into a vase that had lived in a celler for years, It was as black as the ace of spades,A woman would not have given it house room [I dont have that problem] I gave it a good soak and a bit of fine wire wool [with rubber gloves on] found it had been engraved on the side.Stuck it on the buffing wheel smashing.
Regards
  John

[mash valley]

Thanks John, i will give that a try also. i need to come up with the best way as for some reason im having a phase of collecting fuses at the mo, it will soon pass when another ww1 artifact grabs my attention
Addicted !!!!!!
Andy

[mash valley]

Well I've not gotten round to trying brick acid yet but I have stuck with the tartar powder trick, firstly using a metal scraper or stanley  blade I remove carefully all grime, dirt etc then using a pudding sized bowl I add a good squirt of washing up liquid and a heaped teaspoon of the powder and mix with boiling water then leave overnight, I find a rub with cloth and repeat the process again and again, it just gets better and better.
I am yet to polish up with brasso so will post my findings and maybe a pics.

Andy

[GRANVILLE]

mash valley, on 01 July 2012 - 08:30 PM, said:

Well I've not gotten round to trying brick acid yet but I have stuck with the tartar powder trick, firstly using a metal scraper or stanley  blade I remove carefully all grime, dirt etc then using a pudding sized bowl I add a good squirt of washing up liquid and a heaped teaspoon of the powder and mix with boiling water then leave overnight, I find a rub with cloth and repeat the process again and again, it just gets better and better.
I am yet to polish up with brasso so will post my findings and maybe a pics.

Andy

I imagine its easy to lose sight of just how much the original brass will have been affected by the life its lead, especially if its spent the best part of 100 years buried somewhere most likely in a pretty unspeakable mix of ingredients. I suspect brass has a degree of porosity and once ingrained its hardly surprising it can take some bringing back to  life. Keep up the good work!

Dave.

[Sommewalker]

Depends on how industrial you want to get; but in the past to restore fuzes from the battlefield I went to my local chemist and purchased a bottle of concentrated nitric acid.  I seem to recall that he wanted to know why I needed it, but appeared to be satisfied with my explanation that I was thinking of dissolving the wife in the bath!  (I would have needed a lot more!) I also had to sign the poisons register.  You have to take all precautions, but it works like a charm in minutes. Just brush it on. -SW