Cleaning bronze on boats
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ก.ค. 2024
- Tips for cleaning Brass and bronze. Our boat has loads so I've tried all sorts of things to make the job easy, all the vinegar - lemon juice concoctions and all the pastes and creams. Brasso was my favorite for years, but now I have two things that cut cleaning time in half! I tell you the things I cheat with too!!!
Ongoing information / testing:
You may have seen in the episodes that I tried a nano technology product (Gtechniq) on some of the bronze. The manufacturers warned it wasn't what the product was meant for but would be interesting to see if it helped so I tried it on small areas inside and out. Initially it seemed to do a good job a slowing tarnishing but when the bronze did tarnish it turned black and was then difficult to clean, so overall not recommended.
I still clean in the same way with Bar keepers friend and 3m's restorer but I sometimes use the cream version of the Bar keepers friend for a quickclean, less messy but ultimately not and good for stubborn marks.
I've been through many different lacquers, some were awful! So far the best seems to be Everbrites 'Protectaclear' which comes with a cleaner and goes on really well. I just need to see how it does long term but I'm sure it will be better than the Rustins I used in the video which didn't go on very well and degraded very quickly in the sun.
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Great stuff, very useful, have always loved Brasso, but sometimes you've have to use what makes more sense, so thanks for sharing!
This is a great video. I've been using Brasso for years on my bronze winches. Cant wait to try the Barkeeper's Friend + 3M product. Very helpful.
Just seen the ARC Portugal video and thought I would find the start. Now clicked subscribe - beautiful boat.
Good job on the Brass, you made it look easy..!! ✅
Two others who also sailed around the world single handed...
Vito Dumas and Josha Slocum
Thanks for the bronze cleaning tips!
I found it very very easy to do , I was a chief mate on a three mastered tall ship and we had a lot to do every day and it was so so easy.
All I did was to get the 36 trainees on board to use brass oh every day before colours . Done and all I had to do was give the order.
Can also clean brass with ammonia. I soak clockwork mechanisms in ammonia solution and it removes any old oil or grease like deposits and The plates and gears come up like gold. Old Clockmakers trick.
Thanks, might be useful for soaking our brass porthole flyscreens, tried them in vinegar before but wasn't very effective. Not sure Judy would be too happy with the smell though!
De bons produits..oui; Mais aussi,..."de l'huile de coude..!!".
Quel boulot..avec tout ces cuivres a remettre en etat. Bravo.
Another helpful video
Thanks!!
We always have some bar keepers friend under the sink at home. Works great for a lot of tough cleaning chores. Winch looks great now! Of course its a labor of love, and like in human life, many fall out of love after a while trying to keep the brightwork up on a boat like yours... But she sure does look nice.
If you really wanted to get into the intricate areas a toothbrush works great with a bit of toothpaste to get rid of the brass cleaning residue then buff away
I felt sorry for you as you have no comments yet. You've got a great cruising yacht there and I wish you well in your cruising lifestyle. May see you in Australia sometime. Cheers, Rob.
Arh thanks! I guess people don't want to be sad enough to comment on a video about cleaning Bronze!!!
I’m going to try using nano ceramic finish from the car parts store because it is lasting very long on my car. It also enhances the shine with a slicker look while being super thin so it wears away eventually but doesnt flake off or cause a problem to remove. I’ve been planning to try nano ceramic for some time on polished bronze and polished aluminum on my boat. Tip: if you have something painted with paint flaking off a boom like i had you can sand the whole thing from course grit starting at 40-80 to get paint and scratches out and keep going over whole thing gradually to 120, 200, 400, 800, 1000, 2000, 3000, (orbital up to 400)(do wet sanding from 800 and up) then polishing cream. Then nano ceramic coating after solvent clean. Did this to the outside flat face of my bronze gypsy on my S&L Hylas windlass and has a mirror polish on the side and patina where the chain goes in!
That’s very interesting. I tried use some ceramic coating on the inside of our bronze port holes. I didn’t use the strong stuff (ceramic base & Top) just their Ceramic ‘fast coat’ It seemed to stop the tarnishing happening as quickly but the it did start to tarnish and went quite black! So I haven’t tried it again. I didn’t buff it to the extent you describe but I’m really interested if your Finnish holds. How long has it been like that?
Once cleaned, Try an SiO2 based nano car sealant, such as Gtechniq C5. Works great. Lasts about month at sea, then can be topped
This might just be a genius idea! The C5 seems to be for alloy wheels, do you think this is the best one? They seem to do a whole range, obviously nothing specific for bronze. Have you tried it on anything other than alloys? Steve
I was literally thinking this is a perfect solution because even though nano ceramic car treatments do not last forever they last longer than just wax and they do not flake off they just kind of wear off I think because theyre so thin. I’ve been planning to test this method on polished bronze and also polished aluminum.
The higher the silica content the longer it lasts. The more highly polished the surface of bare metal, the less covalent bond that the sio2 can make. Gteqniq products are expensive, but go a long way. However they don’t keep more than a few months once opened. So do loads of bare metal and paint or gel coat with remainder. Check out the siio2 % in any product, the higher the better. It is glass molecules in fluid that dry and bond. TAC systems moonlight at 30% sio2 is good value and keeps very well. Good luck. Salt is the enemy.
Joshua Slocum was the first singlehanded circumnavigator. Chichester stopped once in Australia, which made everyone, including Knox-Johnston wonder if it could be done non-stop.
Sorry for the pedantry. Enjoying the videos!
Hi Jamie, no I enjoy a bit of pedantry! Robin wasn't concerned with Slocum though, Slocum didn't do all three capes, he went through the Magellan straits. So in the eyes of the guys chasing records they didn't really count him, harsh I know! You're right about Chichester though, it was Robins dad that happened to mention over breakfast that 'the only thing left to do was single handed non-stop, after Chichester came back. He also said 'it'll be that Moitessier feller that does it' so Robin decided we couldn't have a French man getting the record so he better do it himself. I researched the Golden Globe Race for a year and a half for a documentary and interviewed Sir Robin at his home in Portsmouth so know this stuff quite well!
@@svfairisle I believe Slocum actually did "do" all three Capes. Didn't he got blown backwards around Cape Horn after his first time through the Straights Of Magellan?
@@aalennox from what ive read know one really knows exactly what his route was, maybe not even himself!, but it's generally accepted he went inshore around several islands to escape bad weather and didn't actually round the cape itself offshore
Proper 👍
Super
when you don;t hava a cleaner, Ketchup is a wonder at cleaning brass and bronze and copper.
This video was very helpful. How do you clean and bring port lights to a perfect shine without scratching it?
Good question. When the tarnishing is as bad as the dorade in the picture you will be there all day even with the bar keepers friend. In those circumstances I use fine wire wool, then the bar keepers friend then the 3M's polish. As long as you dont attack it with something too course the tiny scratches you introduce will be buffed out bu the next thing. So use the finest wire wool you can get away with that still does the job. I like bronze wire wool not steel. It wont matter on the dorade in this instance but if you use steel wool little bits will drop off and if they end up in your gel coat or teak decks they will embed themselves and then rust, so beware!
Helpful vid thanks. I have a 1986 Hans Christian 43T, which I've restored on deck but the bronze portholes are pretty badly corroded inside. I remove the moving part by punching out the hinge pin and soaking them in vinegar followed by a 3m polish, which works a treat. I am wondering though how to clean the fixed surrounds and am thinking of unscrewing them and giving them a soak but wonder if this is going to cause water sealing problems later. Cleaning in place will make a god almighty mess. Your's look lovely and bright but wonder if you went down this road?
I didn't remove them although i admit i thought about it too. It's a pain doing them in situ but it can be done. I'm using Bar keepers friend with one of those plastic washing up scourers now on the really bad stuff, or a polishing attachment on your drill, that can be messy though!
@@svfairisle Ha! Just saw that you replied after watching your excellent vid once again, so thanks for that mate.
Finally gonna tackle the interior portholes armed with a couple of cans of Bar Keepers Friend and lots of rags. Just finished doing the binnacle, which after 35 years of neglect, took successively finer grits of wet & dry (400 to 2000 grit) to clean up before final polish(s).
Just want to add how much I enjoy your channel, your adventures as well as your handy tips, which usually relates well to my Hans Christian. Very jealous of your hard dodger BTW...
Cheers!
I recommend gloves with bar keepers ... nice video ... is there any protection you can use on bronze below the waterline after it’s been cleaned other than anodes?
Some people say that lanolin can help but I'm not so sure.
@@svfairisle thanks... was just trying to shine and protect my strut ... reading about lanolin on cruisersforums now.
I have a bronze watch do you think this will work for bringing the tarnish off my watch.
I would imagine a bronze watch would have had some kind of lacquer applied to it because contact with skin stains the bronze. If someone grabs hold of the bronze compression post for instance I will get perfect tarnished finger prints coming up within hours! So if your watch is tarnishing then I would think the lacquer will have worn through. Trouble is you will have to find a way of getting it all off before either re-lacquering or trying it with just polish and knowing you will have to polish every day!
Hello. I'm on a 100yo schooner. What do you think if I use a rotary buffer to take off or cut the worsts of it? I mean the bronze it's green.. I was using just the 3M paste and doing it by hand. Now I watched your video I will try to get the bar keepers or a.wire pool as you said on a comment.
Yes bar keepers friend on a rotary cleaner works well, I do that sometimes. The 3Ms polish too with a sponge pad, makes things a bit quicker.
@@svfairisle thanks!!!
what is the brand of the fruit net behind you? Im in the market for such net. thank you
I got them off Amazon in the UK they were called Dimi Day shopping nets, came in a pack of 3
thank you.
I can't hear you. Figure out the volume thingy
You have to turn your volume up. The level on the video is fine
Do the same product work as well on bronze (as on brass)?
Yes
Heinz tomato ketchup always works give it a try.
I found cleaning brass very easy,
I was chief mate on a three master tall ship. We had brass every where.
Every morning before colours we had 36 trainees go around the ship and Polish the brass, so I don’t understand why it’s so hard to do.
Wasn't Joshua Slocum the first person to sail around the world non-stop?
Well you're the second person to say that today, so I'll give you the same answer...
Argh, well sort of! Slocum really got things going and was the first man solo around. But people saw the real challenge being the clipper route. i.e. around all three capes. (slocum went through the Magellan straits.) So Sir Frances Chichester was the first man to do solo clipper route and Sir Robin was first man solo non-stop. Steve
@@svfairisle I have to say, as long as the boat is wet and you do a lap, I count it, Cape Horn or not. I couldn't shake the fact that it was Joshua Slocum in my eyes, but perhaps Chichester for others. Both are positions you could reasonably take. Thanks for the information. Sent you an email to your Instagram email address, the Gmail one, and shot you some info on the Hans Christian that my fiancee and I just welcomed into our small family.
Hi Lawrence, Yes I'm with you anyone that does a lap! & I have to say ours wont be anywhere near Cape Horn or the Magellen Straits!
Just had a look at Sea Star, she looks great! love those cream sails. Good luck with your prep for long term cruising. I'llk be putting some info on 'Tech Corner' which is a page on our website that might be useful to you. Just editing a piece on uprating the alternator at the moment (getting the power needs sorted for cruising is one of the main things to do, standard systems even on HC's are meant for day sailing or a short passage at best. Would love to hear some of you music. If you want to link something through I would love to incorporate it into one of the films (give you a credit of course!) Steve
@@svfairisle emailed you the links! Have a good one!
I thought Joshua Slocum was the first to do a solo circumnavigation of the globe en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Slocum
Arh well, sort of! Slocum really got things going and was the first man solo around. But people saw the real challenge being the clipper route. i.e. around all three capes. (slocum went through the Magellan straits.) So Sir Frances Chichester was the first man to do solo clipper route and Sir Robin was first man solo non-stop. Steve
By ‘people’ you must mean Englishmen! Lol!
Josh Slocum...First man to solo circumnavigate the globe according to Wiki, and non stop may only have been possible with the advent of modern food preservation technologies.
Well I would certainly give it to Slocum, but the criteria for the record books on a world circumnavigation are to round all three capes, horn, good hope and Leeuwin. Slocum went through the Magellan straits so never rounded Cape Horn, the guy chasing the records discounted him, harsh I know!
Really wiki should have him down as the first person in the world to cruise around the world single handed, as he was certainly that. Chichester / Knox Johnston et al were racers and were purposefully going for records, Slocum was a true adventurer so hats off to him for that!
Not sit if the food situation improved much beyond tins by the 60’s though it was freeze dried tech that made things much easier. The GGR crews were even allowed some last year, its more that Spray wasn’t fast enough to allow enough food for a non stop passage with enough food on board I think, but he wasn’t chasing that anyway. Steve