Brass Patina

[colu41]

Anyone out there have some tips for putting a patina on brass? And most patinas I'm finding on brass are green. So I'm looking to do something like this. Any tips?

 

[The Aflac Duck]

Put your brass specimen in a container and bury it in rock sea salt. Place an open cup of white vinegar inside of the container, and close it tightly (air tight). Allow it to sit for a few hours, but check it on the hour until you get the results you want. Sometimes you'll need to repeat the process to achieve the desired look. Also, make sure the brass is completely clean before forcing patina, and handle with gloves after cleaning. The same process can be used on copper.

Good luck

 

[The Aflac Duck]

A couple flashlights I did with said method:

In my experience, brass doesn't seem to keep its greens/blues as well as copper does during carry. I've heard of some people sealing the patina, but that's too much work for me What are you doing, a guard/pommel?

 

[Armadew]

I've had luck with dissolving heaps of salt into vinegar in a pray bottle and spraying the brass. let it sit until you have the desired patina.

 

[AntDog]

You could always just carry it a few years. I have one knife with a lot of brass on it and I had to worry more about polishing the patina off than gaining one.

Earned patina always looks better than forced, to my eyes. To illustrate, here is a set of solid brass dice I've owned for over 25 years. This patina was earned, and looks oh so cool to me. You can't squirt character out of a bottle.

 

[SCWillson]

Those look great. +1 :thumbup:

 

[colu41]

I'm doing a guard and pommel for a short sword I am building.

 

[john april]

the bracelet originally posted looks spotty, like something was touching it in various spots.. reminds me of egg patina i did on copper. hard boil an egg, crumble the yolk into small bits. put the piece of metal into a plastic container, pile the crumbled yolk on it, then cover for 6 hours. the sulphur in the yolks makes a patina. i am not positive it works on brass, but it may be worth a try.

 

[colu41]

I'll try some of these ideas. Will have to do the patina after the guard is shaped and attached to the blade.

 

[Justin Schmidt]

You could always just carry it a few years. I have one knife with a lot of brass on it and I had to worry more about polishing the patina off than gaining one.

Earned patina always looks better than forced, to my eyes. To illustrate, here is a set of solid brass dice I've owned for over 25 years. This patina was earned, and looks oh so cool to me. You can't squirt character out of a bottle.

Wow those look cool!!