What will take oxidation off brass without a lot of elbow grease?

i think cleaning a belt buckle is much different than an antique horn. IMHO; i would use brasso; but, not until i am ready to have the horn relaquered; as it will tarnish quickly. this is what seperates the two schools of thought. while some of the guys like raw brass; i feel , it is very difficult to maintain. if you are trying to restore an antique horn- don't polish it up until you are ready to have it restored. or els- be prepared to polish it every week...

Try buttermilk??

>

I have one of those, and disagree. Ragging (sawing motion with a long strip of cloth) properly performed two handed as a whole body action with the instrument mounted on a good bell stand is going to be a lot more effective than that wimpy little motor. Put it this way - you can generate a fair fraction of a horsepower, but that little eraser motor will stall out by the time you apply any meaningfull buffing pressure. Brass instrument manufacture predates buffing wheels by a few hundred years, and while some cleanup of the unbent bell could be and some times was done with that part on a lathe, ragging is a time honored process.

Yes. - I do both. I use the rotary eraser tool when I am working near a port, or inside the valve casing. I also pull felt cloth's soaked in alcohol through the tubing......Anything you can get away with works for me, and I'm always looking for something new.....

So now I have a use for those repairable units donated from the "Technical Data Centre" (read: Drafting office) some fifteen years ago! Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Liberty Polish. Does exactly what your asking for - works just like Tarn-X for brass. It's non-abrasive with a very slight ammonia smell. It's an absolutely must-have if you own/make anything of uncoated brass. I occasionally turn solid brass candle holders as gifts. I leave them uncoated, but include a small glass jar of the stuff in the box.

Here's where I get it:

affiliation, it's just close to my house, the guy at the counter suggested it, and it worked the way he said)

- Bruce

"Doc" wrote in news:foexf.1474$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net:

hand held drill cotton wheel can of paint polishing compound LIGHT pressure on teh drill. If the polishing compound doesn't get it, try Buffing compound or rubbing compound. They are more abrasive. Clean off very well and dry it off, the spray a LIGHT coat of clear lacquer over it.

Test in an inconspicuous place first.

Mark (power tools are your friend) Dunning

Liberty is good stuff. I bought some at a better price at

(search "Liberty" to find it) LL

Chlorine, not chlorides. Straight out of the tap my (city) tap water tastes like bleach, but there isn't much ionic chloride content in it. Tap water generally can't have much chloride in it because that would render it undrinkable at even a low level - and it doesn't even have the antibacterial effect that chlorinating it does.

Well, I don't really know how they, "chlorinate" water. Do they bubble chlorine gas through it, or do they use some salt containing chlorine? I know that when you chlorinate a swimming pool, you add some powder that you buy in a pool store. - I assumed it was some salt that dissolved in the water, and that chlorine ions would be the result. When you wash your horn with soapy water, you sure are adding ions to the water.....Sodium ions, and probably hydroxide ions, too. but the secret is in washing your horn off with copious amounts of tap water when you are done. Then, it really doesn't matter what was in the water when you cleaned it.....It all comes off in the wash anyway. They say your saliva is acidic, and that washing your horn in soapy water is good for getting the acidic saliva off of it......In general, I doubt that anything you clean it with is going to hurt it, as long as you wash it off afterward. I wonder what they use when they, "chem clean" a horn? do they give it an acid bath? And why isn't whatever chemical they use available for the home mechanic to use? I should be able to chem clean my horn at home in a plastic tub, shouldn't I?

Large gas tanks of Chlorine. It is easy to add that way. Done that way at Swimming pools. Adding it via salts only causes water hardening issues. The salt would have to be broken down and then what happens. Adding HCL gives you bubbling H2 gas. CL gas is the best route.

Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

William Graham wrote:

OT: Pool chlorine crystals are typically sodium hypochlorite, a convenient carrier of chlorine. Actual chlorine gas is extremely corrosive and irritating so is not something to tinker with. As for drinking water, what is probably tasted as "chlorine" might actually be chloroform - the chlorine ions in water gradually transform into chloroform over time. It can take weeks for the water to get to your house from the water treatment plant. If your city gives you a regular water quality report, see if it lists a chloroform percentage. Mine doesn't. It likely varies by distance from the treatment facility anyways. Chloroform is nasty stuff too, but chlorine is necessary to prevent other even worse stuff from growing instead. Also water that is left sitting out will absorb carbon dioxide from the air which also alters the taste and chemical properties. Bottom line is, if your water tastes bad and/or you are concerned about the quality, install a good filter or use a distillation purifier. :)

It is GAS - been that way for many years. Done that way in swimming pools (city types/university...) Home pools put in a salt and naturally

Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

William Graham wrote:

At any reasonable temperatures and pressures Chlorine is a GAS. (period) Now they may be using some COMPOUND of Chlorine (that means it is bound up with some other element /s) BUT it is NOT a solid form of Chlorine. pickey pickey. ...lew...

The question is, what is Chlorine gas dissolved in water? Is it ionized, like it would be if you added salt to water. (salt is sodium chloride, so it has chlorine atoms in it) Or, does the dissolved chlorine gas remain in gaseous form, so upon heating the water, it would bubble back out? And what do they do when they add chlorine to drinking water to kill the bacteria at the water purification plant? Do they put some chlorine salt that ionizes in the water, or do they just dissolve chlorine gas in it, so that it dissipates out of the water after some period of time?

Yes, definitely a solid form.

When gas is used, it is diffused into the water. Much of it does diffuse out over time, which is why you want to let your tap water set before you put your goldfish into it (and yes, boiling does drive it out faster).

Chloramine is what is usually used these days - it is the solid compound. Chloramine leaves the water much slower, which is why you buy chloramine removers from petco these days to do the job for you (probably the term "neutralizers" is more accurate). Less chloramine is used because it remains in the water better at the levels required for disinfectant.

Minimal trumpet content: chloramine is probably less hard on your horns because of the lower concentration. But it probably depends on a lot of things, such as temperature, distance form the plant, etc.) And I would guess that neither is in high enough concentration to do any real harm (or we couldn't drink it)...

Gaseous chlorine has been phased out because of hazards - both accidental and sabotage. It is toxic and flows into low spaces almost like water (it is heavier than air) and dissipates slowly.

It also provides better overall water quality.

A quote:

"New Drinking Water Disinfectant for Mountain View Customers

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) will convert its drinking water disinfectant from chlorine to chloramine in February of

2004. The purpose of the conversion is to meet stricter regulations and ensure high quality drinking water for water customers. The conversion will involve most water users in Mountain View.

Disinfectants are used in drinking water to prevent the spread of germs and disease. Chloramine is a chemical compound composed of chlorine and ammonia. Chloramine will lower the level of disinfectant by-products and meet new, and more stringent State and Federal drinking water regulations. Most customers will not notice the change.

Although people and animals can safely drink chloraminated water, water for special uses such as kidney dialysis, pond water for fish and amphibian pets, and water used by some business and industrial customers must have chloramine removed or neutralized.

More information about preparing for the chloramine conversion is available by calling the Mountain View conversion information line at (650) 903-6543."

(I do know a little about many th>>Aremick wrote:

Chlorine gas is WWI Mustard Gas. Very nasty stuff indeed. Shipping and storing gas is more expensive (hasmat charges) (I get Hasmat on OX!). Theft of a tank can be real problems in the hands of evil people.

Having a Chlorate of some sort - is almost like a bag of fertilizer. Easy to stack and isn't rapid acting as in an attack.

Martin

Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

Lew Hartswick wrote:

Chlorine gas forms with Water and makes HCL and O2 - Chlorine reacts with other chemicals present. It takes some pool calcium and makes Ca2Cl or some form. And naturally dissolved gas. It is this gas we smell when we turn on the tap or get a whiff at the pool...

Martin Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

William Graham wrote: