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cleaning badly tarnished brass


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SMD members I need your help. So my dad has a really old (like 150+ years old) grandfather clock that has been ripped apart as of 50 years ago and never turned back on until about 3 months ago. I have the clock running and am just slowly fixing the parts that are breaking such as the old yarn strings that attach the chime hammers to the chime assembly and the yarn that connects to the reset levers for the chime and strike features. My problem is this... The clock is mainly made out of all brass and it is tarnished pretty bad in some parts like the face and the chime rods. The face isnt that bad and I have been using turtlewax body cleaner that is pretty much just tiny particles of sand in a container mixed with a tacky substance (idk what it is) and you run a damp cloth through it and rub the surface you want to clean. That works great but my chime rods are so heavily tarnished that it takes a TON of elbow grease to get clean. I tried using brasso with no affect on easing the amount of pressure I need to use to polish these chime rods. I had tried extremely fine steel wool with no benefits either.

If anyone can suggest anything to clean these up with that would make my life a hell of a lot easier that would be awesome! These chime rods are for a grandfather clock that is 7 feet tall and the longest chime rod is 5 feet long and the shortest is 4 feet.

This is part of the chime rod that is showing how badly tarnished they are:

IMG_20130519_000453.jpg

And to show the part that I cleaned up:

IMG_20130519_000448.jpg

IMG_20130519_000442.jpg

And a picture of both the tarnished part and the part I cleaned:

IMG_20130519_000438.jpg

2004 GMC Envoy1 XS power S3400 batt under the hood and 4 XS Power D3100's battery installed in the rear by the amps0 gauge power wire from front to backAlpine iva-w205 touchscreen dvd/cd/mp3/ipod/am/fm/gps headunitSundown Audio SAX-200.4 amp for my mids and highs8 gauge speaker wire from amp to woofer270 amp Mechman AltRockford Fosgate T1652-s component speakersRockford Fosgate 3Sixty.2 sound processorRca's from Rockford Fosgate and Monster Cable14 gauge speaker wire for the mids and highs1 18" Ascendant Audio SMD Dual 1 ohm with custom Black & Blue carbon fiber and hand signed dustcapBox: 5.66 cubic feet net volume box tuned to 30.13Hz with 1.5" wide wooden dowels and 1.5" thick baffle1 DC Audio 5.0k amp wired to .5 ohms nominal with an imp rise of 1.35 ohms for the single AA SMD 18"Future Vision 8000k 50w bi-xenon projector HID's with 4300k 35w fog lightsLink to my build: Buildupdates/progress

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What do you mean PFC's? Idk what that is.

2004 GMC Envoy1 XS power S3400 batt under the hood and 4 XS Power D3100's battery installed in the rear by the amps0 gauge power wire from front to backAlpine iva-w205 touchscreen dvd/cd/mp3/ipod/am/fm/gps headunitSundown Audio SAX-200.4 amp for my mids and highs8 gauge speaker wire from amp to woofer270 amp Mechman AltRockford Fosgate T1652-s component speakersRockford Fosgate 3Sixty.2 sound processorRca's from Rockford Fosgate and Monster Cable14 gauge speaker wire for the mids and highs1 18" Ascendant Audio SMD Dual 1 ohm with custom Black & Blue carbon fiber and hand signed dustcapBox: 5.66 cubic feet net volume box tuned to 30.13Hz with 1.5" wide wooden dowels and 1.5" thick baffle1 DC Audio 5.0k amp wired to .5 ohms nominal with an imp rise of 1.35 ohms for the single AA SMD 18"Future Vision 8000k 50w bi-xenon projector HID's with 4300k 35w fog lightsLink to my build: Buildupdates/progress

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i know ketchup works on copper...... as stupid as it sounds i have tried it LOL and it did work.....on copper...never tried it on brass.....ill google it

edit: i shit you not: http://yachtpals.com/polishing-bronze-7051

read that :) it will help for sure...and no need to buy anything extra!

this too!

http://www.ehow.com/how_4434573_clean-brass-gold-catsupketchup.html

i think there real i was looking through that guys stuff he sells and it looks like he finds stuff at auctions and just sells it

Yea, it looks like someone got the mids about a month ago....shit. If I had a whole Hertz front stage my ears would jizz all over my cheeks.

/ LOL

My Low Budget Build:

Green 1995 Subaru Legacy wagon 147k- $1K

headunit- pioneer premier deh-p650-$25

4 Lead acid batts. 1 up front and 3 in back- vented outside.- $50

4 vvme L11 10"s <- $30 shipped a piece

6 cu. ft box (after displacment) tuned to 32ish hz with 10 inch sonotube. -about $50 all together maybe a lil more

2 aspm 1300 strapped

Selenium 6"s in the front doors on headunit power- for now -$20

quantum tweets in door-for now -$10

boston acoustic 5 1/4 in rear doors- for now-Free

big 3

1/0 and 4awg throughout.

roof sound deadened (not peel n seal ftw)-free

on 80 amp alt (bench tested to put out 100 amps faithfully) <--?-$10 for test

about $430 for everything<----Not bad at all

still gotta add 3 way crossover, amp for front and rear door speakers and maybe eq

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From my experiance brasso will work. When i was in boot camp in sandiego i was made to clean a really long out door fixture that we washed our bdu's on and anything else that required the whole group to use water at the same time that was brass and concrete. It started out black and green. Ended up looking like a brand new trumbone. It just takes elbogrease and dermtermination. A drill instructor screaming at you dosent hurt either. This was over 13 years ago and still sticks out in my memory. Still hope i never see another wadding of brasso.good luck.

I just wish i had a funny sig.

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I tried the brasso but it didnt seem to get into the little pit marks in the brass that the rubbing compound would get to. Both required a ton of force to get the brass cleaned up. I will test a little of the brass with ketchup. I dont think it will help since its badly tarnished but its worth a shot.

2004 GMC Envoy1 XS power S3400 batt under the hood and 4 XS Power D3100's battery installed in the rear by the amps0 gauge power wire from front to backAlpine iva-w205 touchscreen dvd/cd/mp3/ipod/am/fm/gps headunitSundown Audio SAX-200.4 amp for my mids and highs8 gauge speaker wire from amp to woofer270 amp Mechman AltRockford Fosgate T1652-s component speakersRockford Fosgate 3Sixty.2 sound processorRca's from Rockford Fosgate and Monster Cable14 gauge speaker wire for the mids and highs1 18" Ascendant Audio SMD Dual 1 ohm with custom Black & Blue carbon fiber and hand signed dustcapBox: 5.66 cubic feet net volume box tuned to 30.13Hz with 1.5" wide wooden dowels and 1.5" thick baffle1 DC Audio 5.0k amp wired to .5 ohms nominal with an imp rise of 1.35 ohms for the single AA SMD 18"Future Vision 8000k 50w bi-xenon projector HID's with 4300k 35w fog lightsLink to my build: Buildupdates/progress

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