Any advice for protecting the polish on brass house number (exterior)? I assumed there would be a product on the market for this sort of application, but the folks at Ace Hardware (my local gurus) didn't know of any. Krylon seems a poor idea. What else would work?
I have a clear urethane painted on mine. Holds up reasonably well.
Frank
I used to have to polish my numbers every year. I used any of the commercial polishes, brasso comes to mind as one of them. They worked resonably well. Following the polishing I sprayed them with something specicaly labelled as brass protectant. I think it was just lacquer.
Every year I had to do this.
Until one year I sprayed my nicely polished numbers with gloss polyurethane. I never polished them ever again as long as I owned that house.
The downside is that its a bitch to remove the coating if they ever do need to be polished again.
-dickm
Polyurethane will yellow, Laquer works but the metal must be 70f or it might dry milky white. An acrilic marine varnish might work well.
Spray lacquer works fine. Have to take care not to touch the metal after polishing, clean it very well and coat ir right away so tarnish doesn't get started. Any coating will eventually degrade, but I polished and sprayed my numbers (exposed to salt air) about three years ago and they are still nice and shiny.
clipped
Takes about two minutes soaking in paint remover.
Try a crafts shop and get some resin used for deep, clear coverings on things. Seemed to last forever and no fading/changes from the sun etc.. It's easy to get off, at least the type I'm thinking of; assuming they're metal numbers, boil them in a pot and the finish all disappears. Can't seem to remember the brand name, sorry.
The reason Krylon didn't work for you was because you left an oily film from the polish on the brass. Krylon is a dandy acyrlic with all the UV and toughness attributes of it's basic 'Plexiglass' resin. Given a clean surface it will perform perfectly outdoors. FWIW, I have buffed, cleaned and Krylon sprayed antiques and household artifacts for many years with excellent results. Possibly YMMV if you have a hostile outdoor environment like coastal salt spray or Left Coast smog. HTH
Joe
Not sure what you mean by "protecting the polish." Anyway, I use Brasso on brass. After getting it shiny, I apply 2-3 light coats of clear spray lacquer. Lasts about 3 years outside; inside, a lot longer. Brass is not great outdoors--I like stainless steel. Gold is good too.
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