Polishing Brass

[winfieldfarm]

Just got a fabulous gig saddle from the fall Martin's Auction but the brass is very brown and tarnished.

Best way to polich it up? Can brass bet too far gone?:cry:

[War Admiral]

A lot of pleasure show folks I know swear by Simichrome. I've always had good luck with Nevr-Dull but you have to put in a LOT of polishing to get it right w/ that!

As a side note, if the brass is only brass plate and not real brass, the plate can come off with age. The good news is that it you can replace most of the brass parts... but I don't know, off the top of my head, where to get replacement parts now that Smucker's is no longer in business. Maybe someone else does....

Enjoy your new harness!

[smhlin110]

MAAS Metal Polish! Love that stuff. Tossed the NeverDull can after I was introduced to it. Much, much easier and takes off some really grungy stuff.

I have been "restoring" an older harness and got turrets from Coachman's Delight. I kinda sound like a broken record on Andy's store to my friends, but I can't begin to tell you how much help those folks have been.

htttp://www.coachmansdelight.com 508-782-1720

[ZELLA]

I've used most of the brands mentioned above and more (since I didn't get the memo that "nobody buys brass anymore"). For my money, nothing beats Cape Cod, which comes as polishing cloths impregnated with a cleaner. For really icky brass, I sometimes go over it with very fine steel wool first.

[Thomas_1]

Brasso. Not the liquid one though. The old fashioned cotton wadding one.

[Christa P]

Wenol works great and the brass holds its shine.

Christa

[Yip]

If you have a rotary tool (Dremel, Craftsman, etc) you can buy a pk. of buffing things. That could come in handy for getting into creases, corners, etc. The speed could polish a lot better and quicker than doing it by hand.

I've had this dremel for almost 10 years and just began using it a bunch. They have inexpensive little accessories that will do almost any job.

[willowoodstables]

FLITZ METAL POLISH has no talc in it which when polishing brass on black or dark harness leaves no white residue, Swear by it, as I do not have to wipe off the white residue off..pm me I can get it wholesale for you:)
Kim
Ps second choice is Wernol

[willager]

Willowwood
Do you like the Flitz paste or liquid best? At the National Drive one of the vendors had a sample of the new spray on, but the bottle was empty by the time I saw it. Have you tried the spray on?

Pete & Nolie
Clippity Clopping Down the Road

[goodhors]

We like Peek polish, which seems to come from Canada. Recommended by several Coachmen and other folks who have brass to die for. Always got it from a vendor at shows. Not sure where else to find it. Does a great job, lasts a LONG time. Wipe the leather if you get any Peek on it, so no white marks later.

I also like Wenol as a good type of metal cleaner. We don't do brass on our harness, but Wenol has brass in their list of metals it cleans. Does a great job on silver trim on the Western saddle, which I think is German silver. Also does a nice job on house type silver dishes and flatware. I find Wenol easiest by going to the Williams and Sonoma cookware stores. Little pricy at $8, but a tube lasts me years.

Both the Peek and Wenol do a super job on any of the silver colored harness metals, stainless, nickel, chrome.

If you have really terrible corrosion on your metals, a cloth buffing wheel on the grinder motor, with a wax block, metal polish compound, does a good job in much less time. Usually taking off the terrets from saddle, helps get them really nice on the polishing wheel. Just "more power" than a Dremel, with more coverage at once, but same principle. Sears stores sell that wax type polish, if you don't have a local Supply place for real working folks. Get the finest grit possible, which I think is white, for a mirror finish metal. Always wear eye protection, maybe gloves too, while polishing, so any compound spun off in the process doesn't hurt you. Wheel is moving pretty fast on the grinder motor.

Another tool I have seen in action at shows is the electric toothbrush. The Crest Spin Brush, with two ocillating parts, seems to be the most popular with the "shiners". Does get down into nooks and crannies on lamps, carriage parts, with much movement to maximize the polish application. Small, cheap, easy to use. Replacable AA batteries. The folks using it already had nice brass, this toothbrush polishing was among their "final touches" before turning out the vehicle and horse for the ring.

Polishing tools will save your aching hands a lot of abuse rubbing hard on metal and speed things up as well. Hand polishing will take you a week to reach the same shine, that an hour gets with tools. Hands just give out! You can't hurry other jobs, like leather conditioning, where you MUST use your hands to smooth stuff on. So try some shortcuts if you can. Save your hands for Driving fun!

[willowoodstables]

I use the paste as my supplier is in Vegas right now selling Flitz and when he gets back I am going to try it! I also have used a small piece of light cardboard with the polish to get really tarnished stuff done. Gonna run out and get the spin toothbrush though..great idea!!!

[winfieldfarm]

Thanks for all the brand name suggestions guys. Definately going to try to get this brass back as it is all in fabulous shape just really dirty and dingy. I have the Maas paste and took some to a spot and it took several recoats and wipes but the shine is coming back.

Definately going to try some of the automated shiner suggestions but I am afraid of scratching lines into the brass surface. HHmmmmm....

One more question about brass. Can the brass wear through on the hame tug points? Like metal against metal wear and then the brass wears thin?

[goodhors]

One more question about brass. Can the brass wear through on the hame tug points? Like metal against metal wear and then the brass wears thin?

Yes, the eyes of any part of hames can get worn. This is why you disassemble EVERYTHING to clean and polish. LOOK hard at all the metal parts. Steel wears out too. Buckle tongues may need replacing if bent. Seems once bent, even steel, tongues bend again more easily, in stress conditions.

We have replaced hames that were both steel and nickel, much tougher metals than brass. They had wear on the eyes and on the kidney link that held them together on the bottom. Eye where tugs attach may wear faster if hames are solid brass, and the tug staple is steel. Going to depend on how much you use the harness, how heavy a load is behind horse.

We replace things if wear shows metal is almost half gone in the eye or kidney link. Over half worn metal? DO NOT use that equipment. Brass especially, will snap easily with stress if worn thin. One spook could cause such a stress and an accident. You have to unbuckle, remove hames, strap, links or chain on the hames bottom, from collar to check the wear of parts.

[Drive NJ]

Over the years I have tried many of the suggested brass polishes and like a lot of them. For ease of use I like the wadding type, but you can do the same thing with a good soft cloth (I use old Tshirts) and the liquid or paste kinds

I have found that some really old or tarnished brass takes a whole lot of work with the commercial polishes. The following was suggested to me a long time ago and I use it on very heavily tarnished metals

Also another suggestion to do BEFORE you go crazy with buffers or heavy polishes. IF you item is BRASS PLATED a magnet will stick to it as opposed to solid brass a magnet will not stick. If its brass plated - eventually the finish will start to wear and the base will show through, so you need to be more gentle in trying to bring back the finish. m You can have items re-plated if they are really nice.

So, a natural polish is to mix some flour and salt with lemon juice to make a paste (only enough flour to bind - the salt and lemon do the work) Use this to do the first level of polishing. I smear it on and let it sit for a while - then rub off and it usually gets the worst of the blackened finish off. Then I use one of the commercial polishes for finishing

To protect the leather from any polish you can smear on some vaseline while doing the polish part.

Before you actually USE the piece you do need to look at all the metal for wear, especially any pieces where abrasion would happen, such as:
buckle tongues (steel are prefered but old harness sometimes was all brass)
terrets where the reins rub through
hames terrets -reins rub
hames where the trace clips go thru the slot
breeching rings for holdback straps
and etc etc etc

Brass is a softer metal than steel and I have a stainless snaffle bit that I keep to show how metal can abrade through. The snaffle joint (mid-mouth) is almost worn through

Its definitely worth a try to bring it back to its glory. Some of the old stuff was so beautifully made, its a delight to see.

[winfieldfarm]

Im sorry I realized after rereading my post, I gave some misinformation.

With regards to the brass wearing through, I was talking about the brass where the trace eye connects to the hame eye. If that is wearing through, do you have to replace the entire set of hames? It appears those pieces are magically connected at birth...

[Drive NJ]

Look at the wear on both the trace eye and the hame clip
Are both worn? Equally?

If the trace eye is very worn, you probably have to replace. I dont think you can safely weld??? on a new piece onto the trace - but someone more acquainted with metal work would be better to tell you that

The trace clip (eye) is like a giant bobby pin that is rivetted into the trace which is then sewn around it. If just that piece is well worn, they are not that hard to have replaced from a good harness maker. You want to get a similar quality of brass as your original so t looks compatible

[goodhors]

If you do have to replace the hames, maybe you could use them around the house for decorative items. Attach on top of an oval frame picture. Perhaps as towel bars in a horsey bathroom. One I have seen in action, is a set of metal hames as door handles on sliding doors. Shape curves out a little from the top and bottom eyes, gives a good grip on a big door. You could paint brass hames on an outside door, no need for upkeep on shine.