BS: polishing brass

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 11:08 PM

Actually, I prefer a product called "Flitz" to "Brasso." And I've used both.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 09:23 PM

Some years ago, after buying a badly corroded ship's bell (probably bronze) to use as the dinner bell in my group house, I discovered the existence of a commodity called *naval jelly*, which was remarkably effective.

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: Money is especially valuable in that it is overvalued. :||

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Shields Folk
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 01:31 PM

A good few years ago I was among a group of Royal Marine Reservists visiting the Dutch Marine corps in Rotterdam. We were often disciplined for the slightest misdeed (unlike the Dutch who were VERY laid back)and one of the tasks we were set as a punishment was polishing one of the two canon in the barracks foyer. Well we were disciplined quite often and we always (despite requests from the Dutch) polished the one gun. At the end of two weeks in Holland the Dutch were left with the task of bringing the second gun up to scratch.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Les from Hull
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 01:22 PM

oops9

Brasso

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Les from Hull
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 01:19 PM

http://www.design-technology.org/brasso.htm

Reckitts is still a major employer in Hull, although they are part of a huge multinational company these days.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 01:18 PM

I went down to Woolworth's for some Brasso, but.....they STILL ♫ haven't got any in ♫

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: jimmyt
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 01:04 PM

Is that a fact, Les? I had no idea. Perhaps Jo9hn had a han9d in the R9 and D9 of the produ9ct? Not just a turkey killer and curryship afficionado? I will think of the fair city with each rubbing session hereafter.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Les from Hull
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 12:45 PM

I hope you all realise the 'Brasso' is also 'from Hull'. Our fair City should be getting some sort of commission from this thread.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 01:11 AM

er... Place... damn fool...

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 12 Jan 06 - 05:20 AM

Robin -

The sex of the friend at whose "lace" you've been?

It's called "puttying around" now?

(background clucking and "tsk tsk.")

Note: I often type faster than I can tink too.

John

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Jan 06 - 04:47 AM

I have just been staying at a friend's place, and washed some windows so that I could repair the putty. Puttying windows is an interesting way to pass the time.

"Oh. when I'm cleaning windows..."

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: HuwG
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 06:10 AM

The current job involves cleaning a bar and making it ready for opening. It being a Victorian-era pub, there are several acres of brass, and copper pipes everywhere. It takes a half hour to polish. Worst are the beer pump handles (fiddly, and usually encrusted in stale ale) and the bar rail (covered in dried dirt, usually requires attention from a wet cloth before it will be ready for brasso-ing).

The brasso-ing is definitely not a therapeutic exercise; it is usually a frantic race against the clock. Kind members of the public add to the handicaps by telephoning to ask, "Are you open yet?" (They have lived in the town for several years, walked past the place every day, and yet haven't bothered to look at the opening times for themselves. These are the same customers who can stand at a busy bar for several minutes shouting for service; and only when a barman serves them, start thinking about what they actually want to drink, and start asking their equally vapid friends what they in turn want.)

As a former member of the Armed Forces, I am well aware that a "dirty soldier" is not someone with dirt-encrusted boots, grimy equipment and general air of uncleanliness; it is a junior soldier with a speck of dust on an otherwise impeccable uniform. The former is usually a Senior NCO with no apparent duties other than to shout "**** Off !" at all ranks who disturb his reading of a tabloid newspaper in whatever store or office he has buried himself.

My solution to keeping the pub clean - don't open it.

OK, rant over. Had a bad Christmas; turned down for a proper job, had my car written off, and the TV went "Pfoo!" last week. The last is no great loss, except that I am left with several dozen video tapes that aren't much use until it is replaced.

At least Santa didn't leave me any lumps of coal.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 02:56 AM

As a younger person I spent significant time doing boring repetitious work, and learned that it produces what I called a "zone" akin to what people describe with deep meditation. You can get the job done, but especially if it requires little direct attention, you get a chance to think. What you think can be either mindless or profound, and there's usually little conscious choosing of which it will be; but I, and others who've described similar effects, generally found that people will have both kinds.

Perhaps it's what makes assembly line work bearable. I suspect it happens fairly commonly in some such situations.

It also seems that perhaps the rituals people invent as part of their religious practices are just a cheap way of getting there. I think I rather prefer going the useful work route.

John

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 12:30 AM

Fish and Chips!!!Obviously, none of the posters - are affectionados of the chrispy fried chips with battered cod served throughout the UK.

A messy dash of vinegar - and a sloppy dash of salt - will reveal on the copper clad counters a "new finish."

Use one, then the other, finish with "Brasso" to add the wax finish.

Nearly the same thing in the colonies is "Bar Keeper's Friend" - instead of vinegar it uses Oxalyic Acid (the bitter-weed stuff you chewed as a child) and also sodium chloride (salt)

Wax, polish, even olive-oil will retard the tarnish.

The best tarnish inhibitor for silver, is a cedar cabinet....the stuff resists tarnish for ten years from the camphor oil.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

He polished up the handle so carefully, that now he is the ruler of the Queen's Navy.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: SunnySister
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 12:20 AM

JimmyT,

Thank you very much for your posting. I can relate. While I don't have a lot of people do things for me, I do lose track of starting and working things through from scratch or with my own sweat and toil. Tools and gadgets are fine, don't get me wrong.

Sometimes though I enjoy the Zen-like experience of smelling freshly mowed lawn or cutting into a pie I baked from scratch (even the crust!).

Strange as it may seem- hard work can be one of the best stress reducers around in my book :)

Happy rubbing and contemplating, JimmyT

--SunnySister

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: JennieG
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 12:07 AM

Is the brass beautifully polished and shining now? When I finish my coffee I am going to my sewing room to slave over a hot Bernina, I cut out fabrics for pants last night.

The pants will be the colour I want (milk coffee colour) instead of what The Person Who Buys Clothes For The Shop thinks I should have (pink - yuk).

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: jimmyt
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 08:46 PM

Thank you Jennie!

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: JennieG
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 08:18 PM

Jimmy,

What wonderful philosophical words, you have pretty much summed up why I like to sew many of my clothes instead of buying some cheap Made-Somewhere-In-Asia-By-Cheap-Labour garments.

I like the satisfaction of having done it myself.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Peace
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 06:56 PM

That was me, Rap. Lost my cookies when I deleted cookies. BUT, I won't forget.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 06:55 PM

Not I!

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 06:48 PM

See what happens when your past..aah...what? Did you say something, Bruce?

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Peace
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 06:20 PM

"We suggest that you never, ever, forget this"

What?

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 09:49 AM

Rapaire - I don't polish all my cartridges; they are handed out clean and shining to me.
The 90 mm tank gun cartridge I use for storing my canes is in the hall, and I couldn't put it there in the dirty state I found it on the range - that's the whole secret.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: autolycus
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 05:48 AM

Some of the early replies were solutions, to a brass problem.
From blokes.
So bloke-like to go for problem-solution rather than listening and responding to what jimmyt was saying.
Which is not to say the tips were not invaluable.
I've been circuiting a book warehouse for a long time now and got a lot of processing of many matters sorted while doing the boring stuff. An invaluable experience.
I'm a bloke, in case anyone was wondering.
Autolycos

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: jimmyt
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 01:44 PM

Thanks for your stories LIz and Janie and Bill. This is where I was heading with this. I appreciate your posts.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 12:05 PM

I used to like cleaning the floor after a long day in the restaurant. It was a matter of honour to make it as clean and fresh as possible, getting into all the crooks and nannies with the cleaner. It was a hands and knees and scrubbing brush job with me, everyone else would just swipe a mop over it and move the dirt around. Not me... I spent the last hour of the working day on my knees cleaning and thinking - quite often singing along too. Very relaxing, very theraputic and very thought provoking.

I see what you were trying to say Jimmy.... we all take so much for granted these days. The satisfaction of a job done well is something that not many people feel, because the job is either not finished, or done by someone else. To create a clean and shiny spot out of a greasy pile, to find the true colour of the carpet underneath the crap, to coax a thing of beauty from a piece of dirty metal... job satisfaction that requires no further payment.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Janie
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 12:05 PM

In my case, unfortunately, alot that needs done doesn't get done--too busy working to pay the mortgage....(and *blush*, gardening).

We literally have plants growing in the gutters!

I figure if I don't wash the windows it will keep the light dim enough inside the house that you can't see the cobwebs and the fingerprints on the walls that need painting;>)

Seriously, what Jimmy has observed highlights the importance of doing community service work as well. Keeps us humble and appreciative of our blessings.

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 12:02 PM

ah, jimmyt...in woodworking, there are those who CHOOSE to level and smooth a board using a finely tuned hand-plane, rather than a roaring piece of machinery, though it may take 20 times as long.
The quiet sound of the blade skimming off paper thin shavings, sometimes many inches long and the almost noiseless rustle of them falling to the floor can lead to quiet reveries about the very nature of the life cycle that brought us trees for this purpose...or it can allow contemplative anticipation of the form the board is intended to assume...and all the while, it is possible to have music playing in the background, instead of requiring hearing protection to partially keep one FROM the side effects of the process.

Even sanding, done properly and by hand, can evoke thoughtful reflection on one's place IN the creative process, and allow time to pass almost un-noticed, rather than being an overbearing limitiation ON the process.

I must, in much of my work, (as must you), keep productivity as a goal, and reserve the slower, quieter activities for stolen moments when the soul needs to not 'cope' for awhile, but I have my little escapes....and sometimes I sand and polish a small peice of special wood just because it is good to hold and fondle when it is done.

I hope your handrails gleam at some point, but don't DO that coating noted above....the gradual tarnishing and re-polishing is a way to both appreciate the change and to focus on....things....or no-thing, as it seems right.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: GUEST,Wordless Woman
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 11:08 AM

Well said, Janie, and I second it. Folks used to ask me why I didn't pay someone to wash my windows rather than do it myself. First, with 55 windows, it was a bit beyond the budget and second, it gave me loads of time to reflect (pun not intended).

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Janie
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 09:44 AM

Thank you, Jimmy, from one of those people who can not pay to have all that maintenance work done.

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Leadfingers
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 08:56 AM

Jimmy - As JinK pointed out , once you have it clean and polished , its a relatively easy task to keep it gleaming . I used to do a Hell of a lot of introspective musing while 'bulling' my best boots when I was in the RAF .

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 08:54 AM

Noblesse oblige, Wilfried, noblesse oblige.

I don't polish my cartridges. Is that a German thing??    8-)

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Paul Burke
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 06:37 AM

Use this stuff:

Miracle Brass- Mate

We use it on the narrowboat, it takes all the misery out of the chore.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 05:42 AM

After polishing the brass apply a coating of zapon lacquer. It worked well with may kettledrums (copper) and the shell casing (brass) I store my canes and umbrella in.
But this sns't the way of the navy. An ABS must iterate the polishing, so he is always occupied. Never forget: a busy jimmyt is a happy jimmyt.

Rapaire - well said about the Imperial We. By the way, I'm always wondering why the customers of libraries are called patrons. WE are patronizing them dispensing the sources of knowledge and wisdom at will.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: GUEST,clogger
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 04:33 AM

WAX ON ............. WAX OFF
WAX ON ............. WAX OFF
WAX ON .....
now where did I hear that one before?

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Micca
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 02:44 AM

On some Ships ( British Merchant Navy) It was always the duty of the "Stand-by man" on the morning (8-12 noon) watch to polish the brass in the wheelhouse, and mightily teraputic it could be too. Especially if you had a Hangover and the smell of the Brasso didnt turn your stomach over completely. I always found it very conducive to philosophical musing too, It was, along with cleaning the Messroom and scrubbing its floor one of those Morning watch jobs, and as we were on 5 hour watches that is 12 to 5, 5 to 10, 10 to 3, 3 to 8 and then the short 8 to 12, it meant that it rotated through the two watches , so you did it every second day.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 02:04 AM

jimmyt has a good point, that most of us seldom think about "the olden ways" and how hard people had to work at things we don't do much any more. A bit of reflection on the "graceful touches" that used to be common, but are for the most part gone now is a worthwhile counter to some of our own daily (mostly trivial) concerns. And by the time the rail is done, jt will have some empathy for those who did the "ungraceful" work that provided the "grace."

I feel compelled to point out that the rail at hand does not provide a true test of the old ways. If it's not been polished recently and frequently, a first polishing is a restoration, rather than a maintenance. The materials and methods used in the past were not as "efficient(?)" as some we can use now. Successful maintenance in the old style should consist in using the relatively mild cleansers and polishes of yore on an almost daily basis. The trick is of course to do it often enough that it's not too much work each time; but that means doing it regularly a lot of times.

Once jt's rail is cleaned, a fairly quick swipe with the Brasso, or with another common cleaner, on a regular basis should keep it in good shape, and some find that a "ritual task" of this sort is uplifting. If done regularly, it certainly will be less onerous than the present restoration. We should ask that he mark his calendar (and trace this thread) to report back in 6 months whether he still finds inspiration in it.(?)

My daddy ran a scrap/salvage/junk yard for many years, and I find nostalgic comfort in maintaining the family tradition (on a non-commercial and rather casual basis) around the house, although when I trip over an unidentifiable piece, I do sometimes think about doing some cleanup. But it's a fam'ly tradition.

John

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 11:06 PM

We know that Amos is correct: We did not sing that. We did, however, sing such ditties as "Gaudeamus Igitur" and that winter classic, "Tinnitus." How well We remember sipping hot cocoa and singing

Tinnitus, tinnutus, semper tinnitus
O tautem est gaudem in aperta traha -a -a....

as the snowflakes fell outside Our window.



(Not bad, sIx. Not bad at all.)

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 10:57 PM

We do not use the "editorial We." We use the Imperial We. We are the Controllers of Information, the Secret Masters of the Universe. We suggest that you never, ever, forget this.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Charmion
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 10:57 PM

Check the elbow action among the Altar Guild ladies of your local Catholic, Lutheran or Anglican/Episcopalian/CofE church -- you know, the place with the brass chandeliers, eagle-shaped lectern, six-foot candlesticks, and mile-long altar rail. Oh, and the three dozen memorial plaques on the walls.

When they've finished all that, they get stuck into polishing the silver communion vessels, clean the lamp chimneys and the racks for the votive candles, and then they go home and launder, bleach and iron the altar linen!

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 10:49 PM

As Town Criers, we carry our brass bells wherever we go when we're in our uniforms - sometimes for days at a time. You're right, Jimmyt, it takes a lot of elbow grease to keep them polished.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 10:41 PM

Lighthouse keepers used to do it.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: number 6
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 10:29 PM

"He polished up the brass so carefully
that now he is the Captain of the Queen's Navy."

... Gilbert and Sullivan

sIx

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Amos
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 10:27 PM

Rapaire never sang that in his life; he is using the Editorial "We" that is a peculiar and idiosyncratic aberration to which Librarians are vulnerable; viz, the Editorial We of All Mankind through All Time.

Once you own a Library, ALL knowledge is yours....personally!


A

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: GUEST,TIA
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 10:25 PM

'twas me w/o cookie.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 10:24 PM

I spent the afternoon polishing my euphonium.

Wife got home and asked what I'd been doing.

Told her exactly this, and she said "Honey, you mean you couldn't wait for me..."

Oh well, maybe you had to be there.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 10:17 PM

Ah! We see good Rapaire has been partaking of the Fount of All Mudcat Wisdom! (We've decided "Fount of All Mudcat Wisdom" looks more impressive with caps. Don't you agree?)

So what does "fluctum numquam conspexit" mean? Sounds pretty kinky. Something to do with thongs or dental floss, I'll bet. Maybe both?

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 09:58 PM

Sandpaper will do it. A nice medium grit, and I prefer the open-weave sort you use for wallboard work. When you get the tarnish off, just use finer and finer grits and finish up with a nice emery powder -- if you're really anal you can finish up with powder-type toothpaste and it'll look bright and shiny as new.

You'll be exhausted, and I wouldn't want a root canal or anything from you for about a month after, but by golly that brass rail will look good.

As we used to sing (hey, it's a music thread now!):

    1. Versabar iuvenis ego
       procuratoris in domo;
       verrebam muros et solum,
       osti poliebam capulum,
       poliebam plane capulum -
       et nunc praefectus classis sum.

Chorus:        Osti capulum poliebat, et
        praefectus classis nunc floret.

    2. Iuvabam meum dominum,
       factusque scriba sum demum;
       scribebam semper, et meus
       impiger erat calamus:
       tum tractabam semper calamum,
       et nunc praefectus classis sum.

Chorus:        suum calamum tractabat et
        praefectus classis nunc floret.
                                                                
    3. Sed me beatum denique
       coactorem creavere;
       et debita ego sedulus
       exigebam debitoribus;
       exigebam semper debitum,
       et nunc praefectus classis sum.

Chorus:        Debitum semper exegit, et
        praefectus classis nunc floret.

    4. Crescebam faciebamque rem,
       tribunus factus ad finem,
       dicebam coram populo
       fatuitates in foro;
       delectabamque sic populum
       et nunc praefectus classis sum.

Chorus:        Delectabat ita populum, et
        praefectus classis nunc floret.

    5. Nunc age, amice, si cupis
       fieri dominus maris,
       monente me, mane domi,
       mane semper procul a mari;
       numquam conspexi ego fluctum,
       sed nunc praefectus classis sum.

Chorus:        Fluctum numquam conspexit, et
        praefectus classis nunc floret.

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: mg
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 09:47 PM

skip the brasso and use Semichrome. mg

Subject: RE: BS: polishing brass
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 09:04 PM

Handy way to find out if brass is solid or plated is to try and stick a fridge magnet to it. Solid brass isn't magnetic. If it is solid it is worth having it lacquered after all your hard work. It will protect it from the air (which oxidises it and then tarnishes it).

But are you sure it isn't lacquered already? An hours rubbing is a long time rubbing. I wouldn't want to lessen your spiritual journey but you may be taking the slow train.