Metal finish

[fletty]

I didn't know whether to post this in FINISHING, METAL WORK or SHARPENING? I don't have running water in my shed and I've been looking for something 'special' to provide gravity fed water to my sharpening bench. I recently found an old copper water reservoir with a beautiful brass tap that looks like it was suspended in/over a fire to supply hot water? Although I would never do such intrusive restoration to a timber item, this tank .....

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deserves to shine again.
The tap was already partly separated so I removed it completely to make cleaning and polishing easier...

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..... and it has come up beautifully...

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....but how do I keep it this way?
Does anyone have any suggestions for a polish and/or clear finish to keep the brass tap and soon the copper tank, looking like this?

fletty

[wheelinround]

So now you have added another Copper to the family LOL.

Brasso for an finer shine Alan and just keep at it. OR clean it as best and fine as you can spray can lacquer will work also.

Surface Finishing Cleaning polishing and Laquering Copper and Brass

[chambezio]

Give it a coat of clear lacquer. It won't stay on forever but it will last you for long while. The tap would probably drive you made if you connect it to main pressure due to it wanting to leak. So you tighten down into the taper to stop the drip and......its too bloody tight to use. They were definitely made for gravity fed supply.

[BobL]

I second the lacquer idea and follow the instructions carefully to ensure the best endurance.

Unfortunately lacquer is not very robust against dirty hands and it will wear off and go very grubby pretty quickly so you may want to add something onto the handle.
You'll have to decide if something like a piece of clear PVC over the handle is uglier than a grubby handle.

[themage21]

You could always try renaissance wax - it's used for antiques, etc. and is meant to be good for keeping shiny things shiny and is easy to apply/rejuvenate.

Costs a bit, but you use very little - a 250g jar would probably go a very long way for your usage.

[NCArcher]

Spray lacquer to exclude the air and a piece of clear heat shrink on the handle to stop it from wearing off with use.

[Ubernoob]

POR-15 Glisten PC, not cheap, needs perfect prep and a good respirator but it works well and is tough as nails.
I painted a polished magnesium alloy bike fork over a year ago and it has done well, I did get a couple of small chips as I used it before proper curing had taken place but it has taken a beating since and survived fairly well.
Glisten PC High Performance Clear Coat

[crowie]

Spray lacquer.

I have used a Wattle Pressure Pack product called "Incralac copper and brass spray" before.....

[fletty]

Given all of the suggestions above but before Spraylac, I went to the Big Green Shed. The lovely, helpful young lady in the paint section wasn't there today so I spoke the Ned Kelly lookalike.
He started with the line of " you're not going to believe this but......" and took me to the following product. The uppercase edits are mine.....

"RUST guard
Topcoat clear guard
RUST inhibiting topcoat for
superior RUST protection"

Now, the reason why it is so good at preventing RUST is because the instructions only recommend it for use on......

"aluminium, brass, copper,
alloy and other similar metals"

and, as you can see, it is SO effective that NO aluminium, brass, copper, alloy nor other similar metal has EVER rusted!!

fletty

[Christos]

At least they have not lied in terms of product claims.

[Ubernoob]

Seems I can't edit my post, this is Glisten PC sprayed very poorly with 15Psi at the gun(reg died), it was sprayed directly on to polished metal.
Obviosly it's not clear as I loaded it with pearl black and red wine pigments and it never got a clear top coat as I am lazy.
The bike has spent the last six months outside as I hate the thing and the finish has not degraded.

fork2.jpgfork.jpg

[fletty]

Thanks Uber', I love the effect, could you give us a pic of the whole contraption?

I was up to this stage this afternoon......

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....but, following Uber's lead, I'm going to redo it with RED WINE tint? Do I tint the tank.....or me?

fletty

[node105]

You could always try renaissance wax - it's used for antiques, etc. and is meant to be good for keeping shiny things shiny and is easy to apply/rejuvenate.

Costs a bit, but you use very little - a 250g jar would probably go a very long way for your usage.

I second Renaissance wax, excellent stuff, but probably overkill in this particular situation. What about paste/floor wax, cheap and quick to apply.

[Chief Tiff]

How about a good quality silicone spray; the foodsafe version rather than the oil-based ones like 3-in-1?

This is a trick that was taught to me by a professional scuba diver, after every dive he'd rinse out his gear with fresh water as normal but hit all the metal parts with silicone spray. This reduced corrosion by an incredible amount, my dive knife used to develop rust spots as soon as we got within 10k's of saltwater but after learning the silicone trick it would go three to four dives before needing attention.

I still use it to protect metals around the property, you just have to be careful not to get it anywhere it can potentially contact timber surfaces that will require subsequent gluing or finishing. As an example the slideways and adjusting screw threads on my jointer get a light coat but the cast iron beds have to make do with Silber Gleit.

[wheelinround]

Now all you need to do is mount it somwhere and run a hose from the water tank outside to it for ease of refill.