Thread: New member with old brass question

Rick..it is most likely a controlled substance owing to the ease with which it and b_____y acid and some drug store chemicals can be mixed to make _________.

Which we don't want the phuqueheads to have.

There are however plenty of online references on how to make your own which would be strong enough to do the job.

In my version of the perfect world you'd say to the authorities "but its to restore the New Jersey", and then a canvas covered 6 X 6 would pull up on the dock with barrels of the stuff, and a bunch of sailors to do the dirty work.

Stay warm, and best for the holidays.

Greg

Ease only in terms of the three ingredients needed...besides the nitric acid one is available from bunnings, the other from a health food store. Not ease in terms of the process. Most people attempting to mix Nitric Acid with the other two ingredients would end up as a darwin award candidate long before they made anything useful.

I recall the terrible accident . Something exploded in one of those turrets . It was on the news here .. 15 years ago at least ..Missouri , I think MIKE

Originally Posted by 19brendan81

Ease only in terms of the three ingredients needed...besides the nitric acid one is available from bunnings, the other from a health food store. Not ease in terms of the process. Most people attempting to mix Nitric Acid with the other two ingredients would end up as a darwin award candidate long before they made anything useful.

I think I was 13 when I tried that particular experiment. I understood the process though because I went to a good primary school. It is fraught with peril if you don't grasp what will quickly happen once you start. It ain't exactly cocktail mixing.

GQ

ha ha..your a brave man Greg. I never had the minerals for anything stronger than black powder...and even that didnt do much besides fizz and smoke a bit.

Back then the chemist's shops were just that: a 13 year old kid could go in and stock up n all the precursor chemicals needed for some real mayhem. Sometimes the chemist would give a knowing grin, sometimes take down our names. Our black powder was the real deal...wonder we didn't blow our fool heads off.

About 25 years ago there was a guy in Detroit that collected enough fissionable material to make his own backyard reactor, which was making lots of heat when he asked the authorities for help. Believe it or not a lot came from mail order samples, and a lot from old radium dialled flea market clocks.

I reckon this entire thread is being read by an NSA computer tied to echelon right now. That's how confident I am that the current version of me would be shut down before he could get too far down the road towards blowing stuff up.

The 60's were a fun time to grow up: all the adults were too distracted to pay much attention to what we got up to. Back then getting blown up, locked up. knocked up was all part of a formative growing experience. And yet you blow up some kids today and there'll be trouble most likely.

Rick, try a Google search on bronze conservation, there is quite a bit of information available about cleaning outdoor bronze as it's used extensively in art. Here is one book for example, go to page 352 Copper and bronze in art: corrosion ... - David A. Scott, Getty Conservation Institute - Google Books

Pete

For Those big capstans I would be looking at an auto paint buffing machine , (Like an angle grinder only slower speed. )the electric ones that are variable speed like this one.
9227CB-180mm Sander Polisher

Less elbow grease needed .
And application of a clear coat after wards .
Try KBS clear diamond coat finish , I use it on my home made fishing lures and it tough as ... well diamonds. Fish break thier teeth on it.
http://www.kbs-coatings.com.au/kbs-d...nish-clearcoat.

Kev.

Speaking to a conservator tonight on the phone and this came up in another context. He said that the corrosion on bronze may be preserving it better than a polished surface. Yellow alloys will get an internal corrosion mechanism going in the presence of chlorine (but salt water isn't that simple, or corrosive to bronze)

Greg

Originally Posted by Greg Q

Speaking to a conservator tonight on the phone and this came up in another context. He said that the corrosion on bronze may be preserving it better than a polished surface. Yellow alloys will get an internal corrosion mechanism going in the presence of chlorine (but salt water isn't that simple, or corrosive to bronze)

Greg

Quite right Greg, that's why I highlighted conservation above. I can understand the enthusiasm in having everything on board very shiny, and in some cases that's the way it may have been while in active service. However it seems to me that this is now a museum, hence those involved with it need to change hats somewhat from maintaining to conserving. I must admit I wasn't at all keen on the ideas of harsh abrasives, yes they will remove the surface corrosion, however they will even easier remove the base metal. That MAY be ok once (sometimes not even then), but along with the surface goes a lot of the detail. Already in one of the photos I can see what looks like parts of the casting having been worn away. It's a fine line between making the parts look impressive, and simply (slowly but surely) destroying the parts you're trying to show off. I have polished up brass pieces and it's quite amazing how quickly details can be erased once power tools and abrasives become involved!

Pete

Mike the antituities guy spoke of Bronze disease.

Here's a page that covers it regarding coins:

Bronze disease!

Greg

Interesting article Greg.

Further to the above thoughts, I'd definitely NOT recommend clear coating anything. It seems like a good idea at the time and keeps the article bright ... for a while. That's why manufacturers of brass products do it. However eventually the corrosion will return, and it WILL return. The problem is it gets under the clear coat and looks extremely ugly. The difficulty then is that you can't buff up just that section, instead you need to strip the whole thing down, buff it up and then re-coat it. It's a PIA and typically a big job. I have done some outdoor brass in clear powder coat and that's so far holding up ok. The heat from the PC process dries out the moisture so corrosion has a hard time starting, but they're small and hardly museum pieces. WHEN the corrosion starts under the PC I'll simply throw them away as stripping powder coat is especially painful.

Pete

The big problem as I see it is that pesky minimum wage. All the shiny brass and bronze objects were popular in the age of indentured servitude. When you could buy an army of footmen and polishers for mere pennies a year.

Being lord of the manor and slave to it all at once takes the fun out of it.

Kim Jong Il.

your going to wipe off all that history...

I know new stuff is shiny...but was it or would it have been kept that way when she was on duty?..

if it wasnt then they should not be polished to look like new, but rather cleaned to make it/them look like they are servicable, thus preserving their patina (and age).

if they would have normally been highly polished then so be it ..they should be ..I guess