|
Post by magnus523 on Dec 9, 2018 18:39:48 GMT
Hi folks,
I'm a semi-newbie with a fondness for ancient swords. Recently I acquired a Burridge blade from a forum member and found it to be heavily mottled with fingerprints. Brasso made no impression whatsoever. Could anyone suggest my next steps? Many thanks!
|
|
stormmaster
Member
I like viking/migration era swords
Posts: 7,647
|
Post by stormmaster on Dec 9, 2018 20:18:01 GMT
Post some pics of the issue of it's like little dots or something like that its probably just from the casting process unless u mean full blown fingerprints
|
|
|
Post by magnus523 on Dec 10, 2018 16:20:04 GMT
No, it's full-blown fingerprints, many of them overlapping.
|
|
|
Post by Sir Thorfinn on Dec 10, 2018 21:35:42 GMT
If you want it back to mirror polish, you'll need to polish/sand the fingerprints out. Neverdull wadding is mildly abrasive, used it a ton in the military. Mothers mag polish and elbow grease... Or...try a worn out 3M dish sponge, as the green ones are about 600 grit new, and quickly go to about 1000 grit with use. If it's terrible...sandpaper or a buffer might be your solution. * * ***on the other hand...if you just need to remove nassty green fingerprints, ketchup is a mild acid and will eat it off, but potentially put mild pits in the bronze, so polish afterwards.
So post pics...
|
|
|
Post by magnus523 on Dec 16, 2018 6:49:55 GMT
Apologies for the delay in replying, but there's been an illness in the family. Thanks for the advice re sanding; I'll try this. I was wondering if there was some specific recommended product, but it may just need elbow grease.
|
|
|
Post by Sir Thorfinn on Dec 19, 2018 3:51:29 GMT
One thought... I have had bronze patina that is harder than the bronze, so it was a bear to get off. Try mild acids like ketchup or tomato soup, just to see if that knocks it off, then you can polish till it makes you happy. The tomato soup thing is a grandma solution for copper pot bottoms... Just saying, if you can save effort, it might be worth it.
|
|
|
Post by Wes Cameron on Dec 19, 2018 13:54:34 GMT
In addition to the above suggestions, I've found Autosol Metal Polish works very well on my swords. It works on many types of metal including bronze.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2018 22:27:14 GMT
I've used muriatic acid to strip patina off of bronze / clean the metal. I don't know how it would react to any additional elements in the sword (wood / leather grip?)
Can be picked up at any decent hardware store. If you get it, dispose of it responsibly.
|
|
|
Post by bladelover on Jan 1, 2019 1:11:23 GMT
I don't have any experience with bronze but muriatic acid would probably be rough on wood or leather. Also I would think you would want to mix it with water until pretty weak and be sure to rinse anything you get it on (intentionally or otherwise) well after. A 3M final finishing sponge (white) is about as abrasive as 0000 steel wool and I have had good luck using them with Brasso to remove mild rust from steel.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2019 2:04:19 GMT
I just worked a bronze dagger over with a 3M sponge (typical green on one side yellow on the other) and it did an outstanding job. Can be a little tricky on certain parts if you have any weird geometry, but for straight forward sections it is hard to screw up.
Using something like this with a spot of polishing compound would probably get you 100% of the way.
|
|