Tarnish On Brass?

cavetech

cavetech

Joined
Nov 25, 2005
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I have a 18" long AK with the 1/2" thick blade that Uncle Bill sold me a few years ago. Most of the brass pieces have what must be tarnish, but looks more like rust. I rubbed it with gun oil on a rag tonight, but it didn't touch the tarnish.

What will shine it up again? I do have a knife making buffer I've been thinking about using.

Thanks, Steve
 
Steve Poll said:
What will shine it up again? I do have a knife making buffer I've been thinking about using.

Thanks, Steve
Click to expand...

Steve the buffer will definitely shine it up again. I'm a lazy bastard and when one of mine gets bad, not often, I use my buffer to polish it back to perfection.:thumbup: ;)
The old stand by, Brasso, will work on the brass as well of course.
The silver polishing cloths that WalMart sells at their jewelery counters should work although it will also take some elbow grease.
Actually I just tried my silver cloth on a brass chape, I didn't rub very long and I started getting the black residue on the corner of the cloth so that tells me it will work, just how well I don't know.
They go for about 3 bux I think and last a long, long time. They still work even when totally blackened from use on both the primary and secondary cloths.
The primary removes the tarnish faster and the secondary adds to the shine.
I don't know if their gold cloth would work, they used to not differentiate between the two. It was just a gold and silver polishing cloth. I used that style when I was in the Army on my brass, saved the mess that Brasso makes.;) :cool:
 
Extra fine steel wool and then some metal/brass polish is what I use :thumbup:
 
Hi Yvsa:

OK. I will try my mildest white rouge wheel first. I like the easy way too.

Thanks, Steve
 
You can also try Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish. I shined up a 20+year old balisong with very little of it and a clean sock. I got it at Walmart for under $4. Its in the auto care section. Brasso and Never Dull work very well to. Used them both in the Marines.
 
Mothers is great stuff, I have used it alot on motorcycles over the years.
We used Brasso in the USAF, for barracks details, it works, but bring elbow grease.
Simichrome is another good product, but more abrasive and labor intensive, as well as a bit pricey.

DaddyDett
 
Almost forgot, there is another product that removes bad corrosion of metals, is a Stanley Sanding Eraser. They come in a two pack one fine, one coarse. It leaves a slight satin finish, but does it well with minimal elbow grease, and lasts a long time(I bought mine in 98 and its 95% still here). They also clean up ceramic sharpening rods quickly too. Good luck on your cleaning project.

Jon
 
I use only Flitz or Simichrome. I used to use Brasso, but it is messy as Yvsa said, and unlike the Flitz/Simichrome creams or liguids, it removes the protective coating on brass that has been treated with a tarnish coating, which essentially ruins the finish as now the brass has to be repolished constantly. I ruined a good brass kickplate that way using brasso and had to replace it.

Flitz and Simichrome also leave a coating that resists tarnish, which helps. I started buying the Flitz at a spa store where they sell it to use on the spa interiors, and get a pretty good deal on it there. The Simichrome sells in a smaller size and is a bit more expensive.

Norm
 
i had tarnished brass on one of my knives and i used fine sandpaper and then some metal glo after that. I put some car wax on it after the metal glo becuase i read that was a way to prevent the tarnish from coming back. Im not sure if it is truly an effective way to prevent tarnish though.
 
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