I have Richard Hughes Patina book, and many formulae require the drying to proceed in sawdust over a period of time.
Is there any data / opinions on drying the solid brass objects in a vacuum chamber (I couls add a little sawdust to support the piece while in the chamber).
Can't answer the question directly, but tripped over what might be useful to someone... Picked up a rock tumbler at a yard sale. Put a bunch of brass parts (crib pegs) in it, with some clam/oyster shells / sand from the beach and set it turning.
What came out was NOT polished cribbage pegs, but very nicely patinated ones. And not just a surface coloring, but a nice, durable and authentic finish. Previously had tried commercial preparations, human-generated ammoniated liquids, and several recipes from books such as Hughes (which has some lovely coloring options - look for chemsavers on ebay for KMnO4 etc...)
/mark
Robert Salasidis wrote:
Mark
Good innovation. I assume you ran it wet not dry.
Jim
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