Brasso as a finish

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I know this isn't in the right forum but "Finishing" doesn't seem to get as many hits. I met a gentlemen yesterday while shopping who is a custom fly rod maker but also turns lots of other things. He had a couple of really nice pens in his pocket that I was admiring. When I asked him what he used as a finish, he told me one coat of "crazy glue" used 0000 steel wool to smooth it out and his final finish was Brasso applied with a rag. I've never heard of this and was wondering if anyone else has or has used this type finish. One pen he told me was 5 years old and the finish looked brand new. He's going to be sending me some info on turning cork and his Brasso finish which I will share here once I get it.
 
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dogcatcher

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I read about this years ago on a forum, not sure which one, but basically Brasso also contains a real fine abrasive to remove scratches. That is why it is recommended that Brasso is not used on silver or gold. Another brand of polish is Silvo, that has a finer "grit" than Brasso. I quickly decided that Brasso because of the smell of Brasso and the mess was not for me.
 

magpens

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Brasso was recommended to me in my "early pen days" as a mildly abrasive polish for acrylic-type blanks. . Not sure what grit it has, but it works great, and I would say it gives results comparable to Novus 2. . As I recall, it needs to be preceded by a more coarse abrasive, such as a Meguiar's automotive scratch remover. . In your application cited above, it may be that the very fine steel wool plays the "coarse abrasive" role.

I have to say that I would be wary of depending on just a single finish coat of "crazy glue", aka CA, followed by the steel wool and Brasso. . As far as I know, Brasso will add nothing as a "finish", and is a polishing agent (ie scratch remover) only.

As the name implies, Brasso is intended for polishing brass and similar soft metals.

Silvo, already mentioned above, is a similar, but finer, polishing agent and was originally intended for household silver ware like silver plated metal serving plates and serving bowls and also mid- to high-end silver-plated cutlery.

For polishing pens, I would say that Brasso is NOT superior to the Novus polishing products. . Also, I think you will find that it is considerably more expensive.
 
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leehljp

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This is a perfect example that most anything can produce most anything! :biggrin:

Seriously, Brasso works great on things that are not brass. But it helps to know what it does, and Slivo has a finer grit to it, so there are things that work in different ways. What is important to know is that the guy with Brasso finishes impressed you. John T goes with "What he can see" and that is what is important here. Then when you get to selling $1000 pens, you might want to step up to a finish that goes beyond what the eye can see and into what someone might look for in a microscope or magnifying glass.

AS the the Brasso finish - people who are well disciplined such as military minded folks that HAD to keep their brass shining, these people are more likely to keep their pens and fishing rods shining, and then we might assume that it is the "Brasso" that is the magic wand. No, Brasso is great for what it does, but it is the disciplined user than makes Brasso look good! It is the "conscientious disciplined" user that makes different finishes look excellent and there are many ways to get there. But we tend to think more on the lines of the "finishing product" rather than the "finishER".
 
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PenPal

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My turn in the Army Brasso was almost the only polish used for all the brass involved. Yes my finish is mostly one coat of CA then sometimes Brasso. I loved it when the product was sold in paste form in a tube. One small tube lasted me for years and in this time had been discontinued. To me it is very watery these days.

Peter.
 

sbwertz

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I read about this years ago on a forum, not sure which one, but basically Brasso also contains a real fine abrasive to remove scratches. That is why it is recommended that Brasso is not used on silver or gold. Another brand of polish is Silvo, that has a finer "grit" than Brasso. I quickly decided that Brasso because of the smell of Brasso and the mess was not for me.

Funny, I love the smell of Brasso. When I was in the WAC we had to polish our brass insignia with Brasso every day.
 
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This is a perfect example that most anything can produce most anything! :biggrin:

Seriously, Brasso works great on things that are not brass. But it helps to know what it does, and Slivo has a finer grit to it, so there are things that work in different ways. What is important to know is that the guy with Brasso finishes impressed you. John T goes with "What he can see" and that is what is important here. Then when you get to selling $1000 pens, you might want to step up to a finish that goes beyond what the eye can see and into what someone might look for in a microscope or magnifying glass.

AS the the Brasso finish - people who are well disciplined such as military minded folks that HAD to keep their brass shining, these people are more likely to keep their pens and fishing rods shining, and then we might assume that it is the "Brasso" that is the magic wand. No, Brasso is great for what it does, but it is the disciplined user than makes Brasso look good! It is the "conscientious disciplined" user that makes different finishes look excellent and there are many ways to get there. But we tend to think more on the lines of the "finishing product" rather than the "finishER".

As many of you mentioned in this thread, military service did require bright brass uniform parts. My stint in the Navy was only my brass belt buckle but we used it on a lot of other things. I think Lee hit it on the mark with his comment about "disciplined military minded folks" who used Brasso. This man was a U.S. Navy Veteran and was very proud of his service. I'm not going to adopt his method but thought it was an interesting polishing technique that caught my attention. Thank you all for your responses.
 

rd_ab_penman

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Silvo and Brasso Wadding Polish works as a plastic and metal cleaner/polish.
Used lot of it in my military days with lots of Webo too.

Les
 

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MRDucks2

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As a Jarhead in the air wing, one of my fond memories, believe it or not, was when I would get assigned ships company to help with what amounted to janitorial or foodservice on a carrier. I get assigned to first lieutenant (janitorial) and strip all the paint off the brass and shine it up. The senior chiefs, master chiefs and officers loved it, but the regular ships company hated it. They painted over the brass whenever they could so they wouldn't have to polish it with brass all the time. Being a Marine, we liked shiny things. Lol


Sent from my iPhone using Penturners.org mobile app
 
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You know that in a pinch, you can take the tarnish off brass with Tabasco Sauce....


it's a waste of good hot sauce though.

OH NO!!! don't waste the nectar from the pepper gods on brass. For a very long 6 week period in my life I lived on the taste of Tabasco on C-rats. It's the only thing that can make Beans and Weenies palatable. It was good on the ham slices too but I really hated them. My wife still gets mad at me when I douse my food in this tasty nectar. I love it!
 

dogcatcher

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You know that in a pinch, you can take the tarnish off brass with Tabasco Sauce....


it's a waste of good hot sauce though.

OH NO!!! don't waste the nectar from the pepper gods on brass. For a very long 6 week period in my life I lived on the taste of Tabasco on C-rats. It's the only thing that can make Beans and Weenies palatable. It was good on the ham slices too but I really hated them. My wife still gets mad at me when I douse my food in this tasty nectar. I love it!

To properly prepare C Rat Beanie Weanies, add about a tablespoon of mustard, 2 packets of sugar, a few drops of Tobasco sauce. Mix all of this together in a Teflon skillet, heat with a heat tab or a small chunk of C4. That was our Grunt version in Vietnam. I was Infantry with the Air Cav, before I left for Vietnam, I was told to gather up supplies, and make sure I arrived with my own Teflon skillet.

A better brass polish is mustard, Brasso is made by the same comapny that makes French's Mustard.
 
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You know that in a pinch, you can take the tarnish off brass with Tabasco Sauce....


it's a waste of good hot sauce though.

OH NO!!! don't waste the nectar from the pepper gods on brass. For a very long 6 week period in my life I lived on the taste of Tabasco on C-rats. It's the only thing that can make Beans and Weenies palatable. It was good on the ham slices too but I really hated them. My wife still gets mad at me when I douse my food in this tasty nectar. I love it!


An advantage to being a swabbie, we had hot meals and a dry bunk every night.... never had C-rations, but my son talks about that delicacy from his army days...

Tabasco is good on about anything -- except Blue Bell .. :biggrin::biggrin:
 

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After 50 years I can still do a mean spit-shine, too. When we had an inspection, I would sit in a corner and spit-shine everyone's shoes, while they did all my other duties. Beats mopping and waxing the floor. I'm a menace with a floor polisher.
 

dogcatcher

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After 50 years I can still do a mean spit-shine, too. When we had an inspection, I would sit in a corner and spit-shine everyone's shoes, while they did all my other duties. Beats mopping and waxing the floor. I'm a menace with a floor polisher.

I grew up as a military brat, spit shine was part of my education way before Basic Training. When I hit Basic, I was prepared, I knew the routines as well as the Drill Instructors, probably better than some of them. I literally gave classes on how to spit shine shoes, and the 2ND Platoon always made an impression.

As to the GI brass, when I asked the DI in Basic if he could get me some acetone, he asked why, I said to removed the lacquer off of the brass so it would polish faster and better. It floored him that somebody knew about the lacquer, He told me no, so I went to the cook in the mess hall and got some vinegar and salt and we went to town on the Platoon's brass.
 

PenPal

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Brasso is never a finish but a means to an end,I found Corian so long ago off the tool and used gave a flawless appearance. Protect it does not,acting as a fine polishing agent,so defining finish as I do means the last operation on a pen.

Peter.
 
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Is a "spit-shine" just what the words imply ? . Jus' wonderin' ! . Often heard the term from Dad and uncles who served .

It was when I was in the Navy. I can remember spitting on the toes of my dress shoes (and Boondockers) before inspections. Not lots of spit but enough to work into the wax and shoe toes. Every so often you miss and spit on the floor but there's a technique that I have used for years, not spitting on the floor though.

Mal, my grandfather was in the Canadian Army during WWI. He was a machine gunner and was wounded twice. He made the migration from Scotland to Canada sometime in the 1890's. Any Scot in your background?

As for my comment about C-Rats I was stationed in a very remote location that switched government control while I was there and not for the good. We went without fresh food or U.S. Mail for 6 weeks. We had an airlift pallet of C-Rats that had to last us the 6 weeks. It did but I lost probably 20lbs or more and others lost a lot more. When I got home I weighed 125lbs and I'm 6' tall. Needless to say I was a stick. Can't say the same for today.
 

magpens

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Mal, my grandfather was in the Canadian Army during WWI. He was a machine gunner and was wounded twice. He made the migration from Scotland to Canada sometime in the 1890's. Any Scot in your background?


Tom,

My grandfather also served in WWI ... Saskatchewan and Ontario ... did not go overseas.
Plenty of Scottish in my blood ... original immigrants were Rutherfords ... 1780s ... don't know the original home place, though.
 

sbwertz

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Actually a "spit shine" was really a wet shine. You put a layer of paste polish on the boot or shoe and let it dry, then use a soft cloth or cotton ball dipped in water to bring up the high gloss shine. Some people melt the paste polish first, but I never did. Just lots of elbow grease!
 
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Actually a "spit shine" was really a wet shine. You put a layer of paste polish on the boot or shoe and let it dry, then use a soft cloth or cotton ball dipped in water to bring up the high gloss shine. Some people melt the paste polish first, but I never did. Just lots of elbow grease!


I actually stopped wearing shoes that needed much shine after the Navy, but did keep my boots polished and buffed... being a Texan I preferred boots to shoes, even in the Navy... I wore a pair of Wellingtons through most of my hitch, except for inspections.


I shined my shoes/boots using water also and did the melt wax trick most of the time... I think I still have the shoe shine kit I used in the Navy... it's 55 years old and may still have the last original can of polish in it... haven't looked at in a few years though.
 
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Actually a "spit shine" was really a wet shine. You put a layer of paste polish on the boot or shoe and let it dry, then use a soft cloth or cotton ball dipped in water to bring up the high gloss shine. Some people melt the paste polish first, but I never did. Just lots of elbow grease!

A guy from Ohio taught me the spit shine technique. He would put the black shoe shine wax on the boot/shoe and work it in really well with a soft cloth. After several minutes he would spit on the boot toe and work it into the semi moist polish. I'm not talking about a whole lot of spit, it was just enough to put a few small "drops" on the boot toe. He would work that into the polish and produce a very nice "mirror" shine. Must have been a Navy thing and I could never get the same shine he did on his boots.
 
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I wanted to let everyone know that I did get an email from the gentlemen I was originally speaking about concerning Brasso. He sent my some pictures of the fly rods he makes and the technique he uses. On one of them he used stacked Birch Bark for the fly rod handle. He explained to me the problems he encountered and the solution to the problem. I'm still not exactly sure how he did everything but I'm hoping to get a reply from my response to his email and maybe an invite to his shop to see it up close and hands on. Hopefully more to come in the near future.
 
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Mal, my grandfather was in the Canadian Army during WWI. He was a machine gunner and was wounded twice. He made the migration from Scotland to Canada sometime in the 1890's. Any Scot in your background?


Tom,

My grandfather also served in WWI ... Saskatchewan and Ontario ... did not go overseas.
Plenty of Scottish in my blood ... original immigrants were Rutherfords ... 1780s ... don't know the original home place, though.


Mal,

My grandfather was from Edinburgh and my grandmother was from a little village in the highlands. I'm still researching the information I just recently came across and hope to visit Scotland in a few years. On my mothers side, my grandfather was from Scotland but I can't find any records of where he was born or immigrated to the U.S. I know that he was very young, probably under 5, when he came to the U.S. My grandmother has a German background and again, not a lot of information about her family. I have my grandfathers metal uniform parts that indicated his rank and rate and some other items. They're in pretty bad shape and I'm hoping to get them restored.
 
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sbwertz

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I saw a youtube video once where someone put the polish on the shoes, then used a heat gun to melt it to a high gloss shine. Cool.
 
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