Quickly tarnishing brass

[ADC]

Is there a way to quickly - like overnight - tarnish brass? Looking for an old look, but the brass I have is too shiny. TIA.

[Matt]

I would try using water or steam.

[1_Patriotic_Guy]

What is the application? e.g. what items are made of brass?

[nicksanspam]

I've heard of quickly tarnishing copper roofs with horse pee.

Nick

[Luke]

Wouldn't lacquer thinner, perhaps diluted with a dollop of denatured alcohol, be more appropriate for stripping lacquer? I think paint stripper would be needed only if the item were varnished, which is unlikely from the factory. Paint stripper will work, of course, but seems overkill to me :-).

[Heathcliff]

If there is a stained glass supply shop somewhere nearby, drop in there and ask about "patina." They sell bottles of solutions do exactly what you want. If you have an extra piece of the brass, bring it with and see if they will test it out for you. Some of them make it real dark real fast.

[No]

[James "Cubby" Culbertson]

First, ensure there is no protective finish on the brass. Soak it in a bit of lacquer thinner for about 15-30 mins and wash clean with water. Next, mix up a solution of salt and water (I forget the amounts just that it was pretty strong salt water!). Dip the parts in the salt water. Then, hang the parts over a bath of ammonia and heat with a hair dryer. Repeat the salt water/ammonia business until you get the patina you like.

For me, it was hinges. I took a bit of a coat hanger and made hooks out of it. Used a steel paint can (new from Lowes, quart sized) and magnets to hold the hooks to the lid. Dipped the hinges while on the hooks, put the lid on the can and heated with the hair dryer for about 3 mins. I did this

3 times and got the patina I was looking for. Followed up with a bit of lacquer and they look great. For screws or small parts, you can make a parts bag using metal screen material and just place them in there. One other thing, you may want to rotate the objects on the end of the hook/inside the bag. Because the patina grows best where there is a higher concentration of saltwater, you will get more patina near the bottom of the items (where the drops of salt water accumulate).

Anyway, this worked for me and I actually discoverd the so called "brass" screws sold by Lowes are indeed NOT brass. They didn't tarnish a bit.

Cheers, hope this helped. cc

ps. Don't let the parts touch the ammonia. It's the fuming of the ammonia/heat that allow this reaction to occur. If you put the parts into the ammonia, all bets are off!

[dadiOH]

Liver of sulfur.