Brass

Samantha de van Geer <sam.vandegeer [at] oxfordshire__gov__uk>
writes

>I am wondering if anyone can advise me on the more appropriate
>conservation materials for cleaning Social History post-18th century
>brass.  We have prelim, brasso, biox, Solvol Autosol and Rubin Brite
>in our conservation cupboards.  I know that Prelim is safe to use
>but is not effective on very badly tarnished and corroded surfaces.
>Can anyone advice me whether any of the other materials we have are
>appropriate and whether there is anything which we should be using
>that I have not listed. I would also like to know if there are any
>up to date articles out there on this matter.

Have you considered a pre-soak in Sodium Sesquicarbonate or Sodium
Hexametaphosphate followed by a treatment with BTA or Incralac? How
active is your corrosion factor? Is it actual corrosion or just a
patina forming? I have included a paper I wrote on the Conservation
of Copper Coinage and Objects. I use this exact treatment on my
brass artefacts ranging from the 18th century to modern mixed brass.
Do not use Brasso, I have found it's use to be extremely harsh and
problematic with long term storage tests. I hope this helps, I will
help in anyway I can.

Wyatt Yeager


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:49
                   Distributed: Sunday, March 1, 2009
                       Message Id: cdl-22-49-005
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