Post
by wayne sheldon » Mon Aug 26, 2019 11:45 pm
I have some nasty brass that I am trying to make look good, at least from several feet away. Califunny is NOT helping! I couldn't find Brasso, an old brand, rather harsh, anywhere here. So I tried Amazon. Cannot deliver to my address. Several other products I can get, turn out to be "Californiaized variations, not generally worth the price of the bottle it comes in. Some products will say on the label that they are "California approved". Many do not have the decency to tell us we are being ripped off by the state. I cannot help but wonder if CLR is a worthless knockoff of itself here.
I know from past experiences, that Brasso is harsh. The chemicals in it cut into the brass. Discussions over the years have expressed concerns about damaging the brass. General "educated" opinions are that it may, over time and excessive use to permanent harm. Realistically, the harsh chemicals for cleaning metals such as brass only effect the outermost molecular levels, so even a brass radiator outer shell may need a lot of exposure to do serious harm. Tubes are probably okay also, however, the fins of the core are thin enough that excessive exposure to harsh chemicals could do serious harm. I have a low black era radiator that has been exposed to something long before I got it. All the fins are slowly disintegrating, with many of the front row of tubes fully exposed now. I wish I knew what it was exposed to.
Part of the trouble I am looking at, is my headlamp rings. I started off with some badly cracked '26/'27 plated rims. Welded the cracks, then cleaned and filed and sanded for hours. They are still rough on the outer surface, but are beginning to look decent. Now if I could get some good brass cleaner to clear out a few surface flaws enough to not stand out as dark spots from fifty years of never being cleaned.