treating exterior bronze

[scleary]

Folks,

I realize this is a sickness. Varnishing exterior teak, polishing exterior bronze. Counseling is on my list of things to do, once I finish my boat projects . BTW I did a search for this prior to posting but the board software won't search for 'bronze' because apparently it is too ubiquitous on the site.

Ok, so I'm wondering if anyone has polished and treated bronze deck hatches, boom crutch ends and poles, traveler bridge, binnacle, etc? I'm considering it. I've been seriously burned varnishing the bulwark on my 48 when I first purchased her and in 6 months it was blowing apart in sheets (bristol, water got in behind, hundreds of hours of prep, caulking, varnishing down the tubes)...and yet here I am again thinking "this bronze just looks amazing polished, especially next to varnished teak"

The original owners I bought my current boat from did some interior varnishing (or maybe had it done). It was/is some of the sloppiest varnish work you or I have ever seen (no offense prior owners). Varnish all over the place, on the laminate running along the raised cabin, runs and drips everywhere, and a very wide stripe of varnish on one of the interior bronze ports. What I noticed is that the bronze port remains perfectly polished under the errant varnish. No lifting, no patina, just perfectly shiny, polished bronze. It got me thinking, with the right material, could I get a similar result on exterior bronze? The interior mistake that caught my attention is at least 9 yrs old.

So, here I am, looking for any other obsessed and demented individuals that may have tried successfully or tried and failed to preserve exterior polished bronze on their HC.

I'm undertaking the bright work with Awlwood (relatively new clear product from Awlgrip). I need a product that has serious UV inhibitors in it, one that will adhere to bronze. I've googled, there are some 'metal' specific products for exterior, however most of them are only available in spray cans, aren't necessarily 'marine'. I'd much prefer to brush it on with a foam brush, no over spray, no 'spitting' out of the can, even coat. Any advice (other than, 'don't do it!') and suggestions on materials?

I'm going to reach out to Akzonobel (awlgrip) to see if any of their products might work.

[stormbay]

We have used ProtectaClear from everbright on a bunch of interior bronze with good results. It is brush on and easy to use. The website says it can be used on exterior metal in a marine environment but i've yet to try it on any exterior bits. Also, the MAAS polish they sell is some of the best i have used, plus it is lavender scented so you can smell fancy while making all of that bronze look fancy

[scleary]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the reply. Yu had already turned me on to the MAAS polish, love the stuff! I am familiar with the everclear/protectaclear products, but didn't realize they came in brush on (i bought spray cans originally). I will give that a shot and let you know how it works.

Thanks!
Steve

[chrisray12]

We tried it on exterior bronze and only lasted about 6 months. This was with two coats of the brush on protectaclear.

[scleary]

Chris,

Thanks for the feedback. I've been emailing with the protectaclear/everclear folks. They indicate 3 coats min should last 5-7 yrs (sounded unlikely to me, but this is what they said). They recommend the everclear for UV applications, the protectaclear for 'items that are handled regularly". I got a quart of the everclear for exterior and a pint of the protecta for interior (compression post, ports, etc).

Which items outside did you treat?

How is your restoration coming along?

Thanks!
Steve

[jonathan38]

When you polish external brass with Maas polish (really old green not touched for years) How long does it take to clean it up? Do you buff with a pad on a drill or hand only?

Thanks in advance Peter

[chrisray12]

Hi Steve,

Restoration is coming along great. We treated the binacle and the boom gallows for a trial test. It only lasted 6 month with the protectaclear. This was aparently the wrong item. But interior we treated with the same and so far, no complaints. About 1.5 years ago.

Jonathan,

We have learned it is a process to polish bronze/brass. Everyone will probably give you different advice but here is what we did. First to cut the hard green patina, the only thing that works well is to let the bronze soak in a mixture of White Vinegar and Water. If you cannot soak the piece, (you might think I am joking) use ketchup. Leave this to sit for 4-5 hours. After that remove from water and/or remove ketchup. The next step is use barkeepers friend to remove the remaining light patina (this is the longest part of the process and can take sometimes hours). You should have a dull bronze finish. Last grab the MAAS and go to town. After 1-2 coats you should have a very shine piece of bronze in your hand. You can use a polishing bonnet but we found it made more of a mess than it was worth. Last thing to do is seal it or within 12 months, it will be green again.

[hollos02]

Hi Steve, I think it's right that everyone will have their own ways of dealing / not dealing with bronze. I'm a new owner of a Hans & as the boat I bought had been ownerless for over a year, sadly the previous owner had died in a diving accident. The brightwork was less than bright, varnish and metal. Wood care's a whole other thread, but I think I've stumbled across a very good way of bringing badly tarnished bronze & brass back to life quickly.

The key to this is the most useful tool in the world!... the Fein multimaster.

You see one of the attachments you can get for the Fein is a little triangular polishing pad. I originally used this pad for cleaning up the inside of the port holes (madness hasn't taken hold enough to do the outside... yet!) But while stripping one of the staysail winches the other day I couldn't resist giving the outside a go, well it's in the dry under the dog house on our boat I reasoned, so at least it might be months rather than weeks before it goes brown.

I've attached a coulple of pictures, before and after, well actually port and starboard as I didn't actually do a before shot, but take it from me they were in exactly the same state.
The method is to use the Fein with the polishing pad, but also use a 3m's / Scotch type scrubby pad between the pad and the bronze. I put the polish on the scrubby slap it on the winch and press the vibrating pad on top and just scrub it around.

The latest question I think was how long it takes to clean up items from green/brown, well I can tell you that I spent less than two hours on this winch, that includes internal cleaning and regreassing.
To get the real shine you need to take the scrubby away and continue with just the Feins pad, the scrubby stage just gets rid of the tarnish and leaves you with dull mat, the pad quickly shines this up.

On the issue of what polish to use, there were 3 or 4 half used tubes/tubs of various German and Dutch brands on board, all seemed to do a reasonable job, but then I tried good old Brasso ( I say 'good old' as being a Brit it's something you remember your grandmother using) and to my surprise it was MUCH better than everything else. I haven't tried the Maas polish you guys are using, but I see Amazon has it so I've ordered some to try.

One more thing while we're on the subject. For the little bits and pieces of brass, port light chains and other small fittings, I did try leaving overnight in a white vinegar - lemon juice - salt mixture and it did a good job of cleaning things up specially with things like the chains that you can really only rub with a rag, the soak worked well and reduced the amount of rag rubbing to a minimum.

I'm following what you guys are writing about various lacquers ect. with interest. At the moment I'm airing on the side of not applying anything solid (that may change) but may experiment with something less permanent like beeswax (not on the gripping surface of winches!) There was a very old thread on this site where people had tried a few different things and were going to report back, sadly never did. So maybe someone's reading this that has some real life knowledge?

Regards, confusingly also, Steve.

P.S. if there are any of the moderators reading, would it be possible to ask the tech guys to increase the size of pictures that are accepted? Even phone pictures are around 2500 x 3500 pixels these days, so everything has to be put on the computer, downsized and then uploaded, something that will put off many users from uploading pictures which is a shame.

[jonathan38]

Thanks all for comments, to confuse things I have a boat called "Jonathan" but I am Peter. anyways I am amazed at your winch photos... I have a multitool and in NZ Brasso is a big name brass polish... remember my mum using it back in the day., I am totally inspired by the photos and second the increasing photo size limit!