Thoughts on removing brass tarnish from stag

nmcbride

nmcbride

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I have a GEC 25 Barlow and was wondering if anyone has thoughts on removing brass tarnish from the stag scales, the stag scale looks to have been dyed green in a couple spots (green tinted) from the brass pins and liners. I tried scrubbing using a tooth brush soap and water but that did not remove it. The other thought I had was to place the knife in coffee grounds to attempt to darken the scales.

Hope everyone is having a great sunday, I know I have already taken a peek at the sunday picture thread.

Nick
 
Good question and im interested in learning an answer as well. Do you jave a pic of said handle? Maybe someone has some tips to prevent it from happening as well.
 
I think this will do better in Maintenance and Tinkering.

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I expect there will be more knowledgeable guys who will respond to this thread but I have found that;
Soap and water are to be avoided, stag seems to be more spongy than bone and may be damaged by it.
Brasso is a great product but it can leave a black residue which will get picked up by the pores in stag or bone. (Doesn't seem to hurt wood) use it on my 110 too.
The best and safest way is to soak it in mineral oil for a couple of days, then toothbrush it vigorously.
I picked up a very old stag handled I*XL hawkbill awhile ago that was filthy with years of crud and even dried house paint, three days of soaking in mineral oil dissolved the crud, loosened the paint and plumped up the old dried stag.
So it may also help soften the verdigris so you can wipe it off.

On the other hand.:-)
Yours being a new knife, the stag may be stabilized. You might just try putting some toothpaste on that toothbrush. It contains mild abrasives that won't leave a stain, or make a paste with Barkeepers Friend.

And for future protection you might try Renaissance Wax. A lot of gun guys swear by it.
 
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Good question. This is one reason I much prefer non brass liners - nickel silver,iron,stainless etc - as brass bleed/verdigris can be very unpleasant. It even gets around the pins but it's generally the liners that bleed. Problem with cleaning is that it cannot get in between the liner and handle and that's the usual locale for this bleed.

Only have a partial solution. A GEC 85 Bullet Jack of mine came in rather light colour stag, this soon displayed brass bleed leaving staining. I dyed it in strong tea with a bit of salt, the results were very satisfying: a good dark colour, back springs went black and most of the verdigris hidden by the dye, a great improvement.

I agree with LEOGREG about stag's tendency to sponge up after water soaking, hence my initial fear about tea dye, but once done this is a good fix. Where I part company with him is over mineral oil soaking. I think it's fine to wipe it over with the stuff but soaking in it over a day or two can also soften up stag badly, I avoid it after bad experiences. After the tea dye I apply lemon oil and polish off, Ren Wax as he said is excellent, so too bee's wax. Hope this helps a bit.

Regards, Will
 
Will,
I have yet to see any ill effects from mineral oil soaking for old bone or stag but your fondness for lemon oil interests me. I read another post on another forum by a Brit who was clearly more experienced than I, he swore by lemon oil for stag, was even willing to import the stuff since it's apparently not available in England. (How can that be?) my mother and grandmother loved it for furniture.
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Here's a bad IPad photo of the I*XL pruner and a Sheffield fork ,( Jon Slider says; "a bad pic is better than no pic." i heartily agree with that dictum) . Both improved by mineral oil soaking. After a few days the mineral oil seeps out leaving the stag " stabilized." Sort of. ) ;-{> emoticon for Knarfeng .

Truth is, I love brass, bronze, and copper, man's earliest metals but that green gunk ....no!
 
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That's a WONDERFUL Pruner there! those pies don't look bad either....:D

I think very old worn stag which is smoother and dirty, is probably good to soak but newer (possibly inferior or badly cured?) stag does seem to react negatively. I'm talking about 24 hr or more soaking time here.

As for Lemon Oil, I'm in Europe too and you can't get it, importation could be problematic due to it being possibly inflammable. I know many respected knifemakers use Lemon Oil, it works a treat on bone too and of course wood. Just a 20 min wipe over and buff off with a micro cloth gives very decent results.

Thanks, Will
 
Here are some hints from a professional cutlery restorer:
Never soak stag, ivory, or horn in mineral (or any)oil. It doesn't contain it naturally. Oil softens stag.
Stag is naturally on the outside of a deer's head. Why would you think water would harm it?
Often, putting the knife in an ultrasonic cleaner with water, ammonia, and detergent will remove verdigris from handle materials.
You can also scrub with a paste of baking soda and detergent. After either of these processes, rinse well and allow the stag to dry completely.
Then, wax with neutral paste shoe polish, non-abrasive car wax, or similar.
 
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