Brass artifacts are the perfect royal remnants that add elegance to the home. Most of us pick them for their old vintage look, and especially in India, brass has its significance in prayer rooms. Yet maintaining these elegant artifacts is no-easy with general methods. The usual cleaners cannot keep up their work when it comes to brass.
While the crucial reason for dark, continuous blackness of brass accounts for its highly corrosive nature. The shine of the metal can be retrieved in no time by removing the tarnish. Again, based on the toughness of the stains, different methods can be tried on to find a solution.
Check these 5 easy ways to clean brass before you pick the best alternative!
1.Apply Olive oil and wash it off with rugged cloth for cleaning thin or plated brass artifacts
Olive oil is an excellent shine bestowing material; it does help in cleaning brass. The simplest and effortless way to clean the titular marks of brass is by applying Olive oil. A thin layer of oil has to be applied on the surface and then washed with a rugged cloth.
The oil traces along with marks are cleaned, and the glossy, satiny look is observed on your brass artifact.
2.Use clear, bright ketchup or Tabasco sauce on brass for hours before washing with clean water
Yes, the ketchup we love to have with pasta! Due to the amount of Vinegar mixed with tomato and spices, ketchup is regarded as an efficient brass cleaner. You can either use ketchup, Tabasco sauce, or even Worcestershire sauce to run the errand.
Apply a thin layer on the brass artifacts and leave it for an hour or a couple of hours undisturbed. Wash away the film with warm water and inspect the glory. The ketchup generally gets back the shine to your brass items! You can repeat the process if the marks are not entirely removed in the first wash.
3.White vinegar mix with flour and salt scrubs away the tough black spots on brass artifacts
Vinegar, the magical cleaning agent, when mixed with crumbs of salt, reacts tremendously with the tarnish and rubs it off in no time. It is one of the fastest methods to turn your defective brass items into adorable royal crafts.
One tablespoon of salt and a cup of flour is added to white Vinegar to prepare a mixture. Now, the mixture is applied to the items and then rubbed out with water after a while. Here the salt crumbs with flour serve as a perfect scrub for swabbing away the dirt. After the washout, you can observe the glory of the metal return in minutes!
4.Scrub the brass items with lemon and crumbs of salt to clear the tarnish
There are two methods in which lemon and salt together are used in cleaning up brass. In the first procedure, add lemon juice and a tablespoon of salt to warm water, stir the solution till the salt is completely dissolved, and then soak the brass artifacts in the solution till you observe the complete stains being drawn out. Soon after, you can take out your pieces and wash them off with freshwater and use them.
In the second procedure, a piece of lemon with sprinkled salt on its juicy side is taken. The lemon is directly rubbed on the artifact. Here the salt directly acts as a scrub and the lemon as detergent. This procedure also gives you immediate results and brushes away the tarnish!
5.Apply toothpaste to clear the stains of corrosion on the brass items
Brass does not turn wholly tarnished all at once. Dark significant spots are first formed on the surface, which spreads across. The spots can be removed in the initial phase to curb the transmission. And toothpaste serves as a missile against spots.
Spread a layer of toothpaste over the surface of the artifact. Wash it off with cold water by slowly kneading the metal after a while. Now you can either observe lightened spots or a completely clean surface after the wash. In the case of lightened spots, repeat the procedure for complete contentment.
There are many methods to keep up the glory of your brass vintage look! Do not worry about its preservation the next time you stumble over its purchase. Also, there are several brass polishes available that leave a protective coat on the surface, which stops the corrosion with air.
Nonetheless, try out these different procedures and pick the best for your artifacts style!