Thread: Sick of Brass?

You can age brass by rubbing salt over it and putting the brass in a sealed jar that contains a rag soaked in ammonia.
Dont let the brass touch the ammonia.
Its the fumes that do the work.

Try it on scarp first.

It gives the brass a bronzey look.

Al

Thanks Oz, you're a wizard

Owww yeah.
Make sure you take the lacqure of the brass first.

Al

Originally Posted by Cagey

G'day guys, i am a little over brass fittings for small boxes at the moment, so i thought i would try to get something different, like black or antiqued/blackened/brass/bronze something or other, but no luck. I have seen silver plated hinges, but are a bit pricey. Does anyone know where to get anything, or maybe how to do it to brass by some tricky method

Hi Cagey!

Have you looked at Lee Valley (http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/pa...&cat=3&p=49938) or even our mates over in the West - Timbecon?

Both have some antiqued brass / bronze or even steel / cast iron fittings.

Cheers!

Steve, i had checked out both already, some styles i like, but it is getting the combo of hinges, stays(maybe),clasps & handles all in a similar style. The florentine finish is what i like, but also dont want too intricate

heres something to try, from my japan experiments.
clean all laquer & such off your brass thing.
polish it good & rinse with thinner & dry carefully.

dip in boiled linseed oil, set aside on some paper towel to drain.

very carefully place them on a baking tray covered in baking paper without touching any good bits.
then bake in an ordinary oven at 220c for 1 hour to a1 and a half

it should give you a hard darkish translucent coating.

if you want it harder try 50/50 shelac and linseed.

This certainly isnt a proven goer.
I was doing some experiments on how the diferent components of japan behaved, both linseed and shelac looked promising.

I will publish my japan formular shortly too.

cheers

Try some of the ranges from these guys

http://www.motherofpearl.com/
http://www.brassrus.com.au/index.cfm
http://elraco.com.au/index.php

I get my brass, antique brass and non-brass fittings from www.Watsonbrass.com in Yamba NSW. Excellent range of box and cabinet hardware, good prices, great service .... ya can't do more than that!
good night all, Fletty

I saw a huge range of stainless fittings in a marine supplier's joint, if that look blows your hair back!

Deep fry in a little vegetable oil tyrns them blackish, don't use the oil for cooking again though, tastes terrible.
Plyboard distributors in Dandenong have a range of small hinges etc.
Lefflers in York St Sth Melb have a lot of small catches etc in brass and nickel.

Originally Posted by soundman

heres something to try, from my japan experiments.
clean all laquer & such off your brass thing.
polish it good & rinse with thinner & dry carefully.

dip in boiled linseed oil, set aside on some paper towel to drain.

very carefully place them on a baking tray covered in baking paper without touching any good bits.
then bake in an ordinary oven at 220c for 1 hour to a1 and a half

it should give you a hard darkish translucent coating.

if you want it harder try 50/50 shelac and linseed.

This certainly isnt a proven goer.
I was doing some experiments on how the diferent components of japan behaved, both linseed and shelac looked promising.

I will publish my japan formular shortly too.

cheers

Soundy, whilst we've never met, I am forming a picture of you. It bears a resemblance to those old pictures of the alchemist in his laboratory, flowing robes, rampant beard and funny hat, crouched over his bench desperately trying to transmogrify lead into gold, whilst a raggedy old moggy watches, tail erect.

May I suggest an eye of newt and toe of green tree frog to add to your Japanning mixture. Double, double toil and trouble, witches burn and cauldron etc....

Seriously tho, I now own 6 old planes and would like to complete the restoration with a Japan finish that adheres to the KISS principle, hence your researches are very interesting. How do you remove the old Jappaning?

Yes Professor Dumbledor...................ere young Arry.........

I checked out all the local suppliers and most of the hardware is fine (IMO anyway) for kitchens etc but not really fine furniture grade.

I think that most of us here aspire to something more than the cr*p you can buy from Ikea. Good hardware does not cost that much than the rubbish than I've seen locally and when you think about it, as a percentage of the cost of the total project it is generally inconsequential when compared to the cost of timber. Not to mention tools!

I've bought hardware from Horton Brasses in the US (http://www.horton-brasses.com/) and the quality is just streets ahead of what I've seen here. They have brass hardware in antique finishes that actually look antique, if that's what you want. I personally buy my hardware bright and don't try to antiqu-ify finishes. I figure that all furniture started out new once. However, I accept that there are equally valid competing views.

I know that there are other brands that have equal reputations (Whitechapel for instance http://www.whitechapel-ltd.com/index.shtml).

Lots of help guys thanks. Have had a go at using Ozwinners salt & Ammonia suggestion with mixed results. Clasp came out great, but hinges didnt, i think due to lacquer not off like i thought. will try this again after getting some lacquer thinners. Lots of good links, but no one had things like stays and hinges to match handles, so i will continue with experiments. Did find this stuff on one of the liked sites (picture below), which i will give a try. I am also thinking about setting up a small electroplating bath, to try for something different.