Brass furniture can make your home look bright and elegant.
The shimmering reflection they create can brighten up every nook and cranny in
every room. Unfortunately, this sheen doesn’t last forever. In fact, it can
easily be overshadowed by tarnish as the furniture’s surfaces get exposed to
oxygen. Fortunately, though, there are ways to make your brass items shiny
again.
Why does brass
tarnish?
Before cleaning and polishing your brass furniture, it helps
to first understand why brass tarnishes in the first place. Well, you may think
that tarnish indicates damage or deterioration. In truth, it’s the other way
around. The tarnish is the beginning of a process called patination, or the
creation of a protective layer as a reaction to oxidation. That tarnish is
actually protecting your brass furniture from damage.
The problem with tarnish is that it makes brass surface look
pale and unattractive. Unless you intend to make your brass furniture look
rustic and antique, you have no other choice but to clean and polish them every
now and then to bring back their luster.
Is it solid brass
or just a coating?
Brass is an expensive metal because its base metals are hard
to mine and it requires a quite complex alloying process. This is also why most
items made of pure brass cost more than those made of iron or aluminum, which
is more abundant in supply. When a piece of brass furniture is offered to you
for an unreasonably low price, it could be a red flag that the furniture is not
made of pure brass.
There’s a way to determine if a furniture is pure brass or
not. Hold a piece of magnet near the surface of you brass furniture. If the
magnet doesn’t cling to the furniture, it means the furniture is pure brass. If
it does, the furniture could be made of iron and just coated or plated with
brass. It is important to know this because the cleaning method required for brass-plated
furniture pieces may be different from that required for pure brass items.
Cleaning and
Buffing
The first step to restoring the luster of your brass
furniture is to get rid of dirt and stains from its surface. Wash the item with
soap and water until the surface is all clean. This won’t remove the tarnish
but at least you’ve eradicated hard particles that can stick to the cloth and
potentially scratch your furniture as you rub on its surface.
Dry the furniture and ready the materials you need for
buffing. All you need is a piece of cloth and a burnishing substance. You may
use commercially available metal polish but if you like a more natural and
cost-effective approach, there are alternative products that you can use, most
of them are very likely to be found in your home. Vinegar, for instance, is a
natural polishing agent that works just as effectively as over-the-counter
products. Catsup and lemon may work, too.
Getting Your
Brass Supplies from the Best Supplier
Proper alloying techniques can produce high-quality brass
items with sheen that doesn’t easily fade. This means you don’t have to clean
and burnish your furniture very often. You can find these materials from
reputable brass suppliers,
such as Rotax Metals. Buying from a trusted supplier can help you get the most
bang for your buck.
Sources:
How to Polish Brass, realsimple.com
How to clean brass naturally, mnn.com
No comments:
Post a Comment