Bronze cleaning

[Ted]

I'm looking for suggestions on how to clean my cast bronze seacock before I reinstall it. The surface is rough and green. I've tried Bar Keepers Helper, and a home made chemistry mixture of salt, baking soda, white vinegar, lemon juice and detergent. I wasn't impressed with the results. Anyone have a good product for this application?

 

[Ron20324]

did you try tomato sauce?

 

[Ted]

I haven't tried tomato sauce but I'm waiting to see if the ketchup I applied 15 minutes ago will work. Like minds............

 

[Ross]

Why would you try an acid and a base (vinegar and baking soda) in the same mix? Try straight vinegar and salt and an over night soak.
What you have done is neutralized the acid(vinegar)with a base(baking soda) did you wonder about the bubbles? Ketchup is just a mix of salt and tomatoes and vinegar. Leave out the tomatoes and the sugar and just use the vinegar and the salt.

 

[RichH]

Verdigris, the green copper-acetate complex, that forms on bronze is best removed by application of citric (or phosphoric) acid. Lemon juice is citric acid (in a concentration that isnt harmful to human skin) .... apply cotton fluff wetted/soaked with lemon juice over the part, cover with saran wrap, then scrub the surface while still wetted with a stiff brush, repeat as needed. Cheap if you can get cheap lemons or cheap lemon juice.

Citric acid is one of the 'best' for dissolving copper-acetate complexes.

 

[Ted]

Ross, I tried lemon juice with baking soda and then vinegar with flour. Both had salt. Read this somewhere that it would make a good cleaner for bronze but I wasn't happy with the results. Perhaps I should let it sit overnight or longer. I'm now working with lemon juice as Rich has suggested but it's still a very slow process. I'm wondering if there is a stronger citric acid that would work faster than lemon juice without damaging the bronze.

 

[centerline]

this may not be a solution for everyones problem with cleaning brass/bronze/copper/steel/rust stains/aluminum/bricks and concrete, but muratic acid will remove everything but grease and plastic from the part, and left long enough, it will even remove the part itself.... dissolve it!
you can get it in the masonry section of the nearest home improvement center.
I use it all the time, but if you have never used it before, use extreme caution. its kinda like battery acid and it can cause you severe damage if you are careless with it.
its great for removing iron staining and spots from gelcoat.... within about 2-3 minutes. be careful.

 

[Philip_Oceanis 361]

I haven't tried it but I have heard that HP sauce is good for cleaning bronze.

 

[Bill Roosa]

Perhaps I'm missing something here. Is there some aversion to using a wire brush and some elbow greese? I've found that for removing surface rust and scale these high tech devices are the cat's meow.
Even better if you have the "son" attachment which allows the use of a reduced amount of elbow greese.

 

[woodster]

Tobasco sauce works for me....just coat it and let it soak for a while then rinse it of.....

regards

woody

P S i also have a bead blaster using glass beads from time to time....

 

[RichH]

this may not be a solution for everyones problem with cleaning brass/bronze/copper/steel/rust stains/aluminum/bricks and concrete, but muratic acid will remove everything but grease and plastic from the part, and left long enough, it will even remove the part itself.... dissolve it!
you can get it in the masonry section of the nearest home improvement center.
I use it all the time, but if you have never used it before, use extreme caution. its kinda like battery acid and it can cause you severe damage if you are careless with it.
its great for removing iron staining and spots from gelcoat.... within about 2-3 minutes. be careful.

If you dont have the chemical expertise for applying the correct 'protections', and what to do (neutralizations steps) if you 'spill' strong acids or caustics onto yourself .... stick with the low concentration 'consumer' stuff. Such concentrated acid forms can easily dissolve human tissue and which are very very slow to 'heal'.

Low concentration acids and caustics will work just as effectively as the 'high powered' stuff ... it just takes 'longer' and may need 'repeated' applications.

Stay safe

 

[CalebD]

I'm with Bill Roosa on this.
They even sell wire wheels and cup wire wheels that you can put in your drill. The wire wheel will clean the patina off of brass and it is kind of rewarding to do. None of them come with the "son" attachment though.

I cleaned my 40+ year old stuffing box (bronze) earlier this spring using a bench mounted wire wheel. It looked like new in about 1/2 hour.

Save the ketchup for your burger, vinegar for your salad dressing and lemon wedges for your iced tea.

Before/after pictures attached.