Post by PeterW on Nov 2, 2005 6:54:32 GMT -5
Hi all,
Ron Head's thread about his 8x10 Burke & James reminds me that on many old wooden cameras the metal fittings are brass, and these have gone spotty and corroded over the years. Here's painless method of cleaning and refinishing old brass.
In most cases, they were lacquered, so after taking them off the camera remove what's left of the old lacquer with a paint stripper.
Then drop them in a saturated solution of ordinary salt and vinegar. Just keep putting in the salt till no more wants to disolve. Drop the brass bits in and leave them there for about a quarter to half an hour depending on how corroded they look. Eventually the corrison and tarnish turns pink and can be washed off in hot water and washing up liquid before polishing the brass with metal polish.
The newly polished brass looks a bit 'new' compared with the original colour of the brass, and that's because originally the brass was given that lovely 'golden' look by lacquering with a slightly orange lacquer, usually French polish thinned down a bit with denatured alcohol. Warm the bits very slightly before lacquering to make sure there isn't any moisture left because any moisture will turn the lacquer milky.
On a few old cameras the brass bits were chemically blackened. This was often used on the insides of old brass lenses because it doesn't gum up the threads like black paint. Somewhere I've got an old formula for chemically blackening brass. I haven't tried it but as far as I remember it doesn't use any 'nasty' chemicals. If I can find it, I'll post it.
Peter
Ron Head's thread about his 8x10 Burke & James reminds me that on many old wooden cameras the metal fittings are brass, and these have gone spotty and corroded over the years. Here's painless method of cleaning and refinishing old brass.
In most cases, they were lacquered, so after taking them off the camera remove what's left of the old lacquer with a paint stripper.
Then drop them in a saturated solution of ordinary salt and vinegar. Just keep putting in the salt till no more wants to disolve. Drop the brass bits in and leave them there for about a quarter to half an hour depending on how corroded they look. Eventually the corrison and tarnish turns pink and can be washed off in hot water and washing up liquid before polishing the brass with metal polish.
The newly polished brass looks a bit 'new' compared with the original colour of the brass, and that's because originally the brass was given that lovely 'golden' look by lacquering with a slightly orange lacquer, usually French polish thinned down a bit with denatured alcohol. Warm the bits very slightly before lacquering to make sure there isn't any moisture left because any moisture will turn the lacquer milky.
On a few old cameras the brass bits were chemically blackened. This was often used on the insides of old brass lenses because it doesn't gum up the threads like black paint. Somewhere I've got an old formula for chemically blackening brass. I haven't tried it but as far as I remember it doesn't use any 'nasty' chemicals. If I can find it, I'll post it.
Peter
.
;D