How to Clean Brass

How to clean brass -

Is it solid Brass? Whether your item is solid brass or only brass plated will affect how you need to clean it. Methods that employ abrasives, especially steel wool, are not suitable for items that are brass plated – the scratching will leave swirls of different colours in the metal, or could rub away the brass entirely if the item is fairly old.

To check whether your item is solid brass, first use a magnet. Magnets will stick to steel and zinc underneath a brass plating, but not to solid brass. However, your item could be brass plating on top of another non-magnetic metal – so a more definite way to tell whether it is brass plated is to do a patch test – use a sharp kitchen knife to scratch an inconspicuous part of the item. If the item is brass, the colour in the scratch should be bright yellow. If it is another colour, then it is definitely another metal, and you still need to stick with the non-abrasive options for cleaning.

Cleaning

The first thing you should try is using water as hot as you can stand while wearing rubber gloves, a soft or medium bristled brush, and a tiny amount of dish soap.

You can clean the brass with vinegar and salt. Pour vinegar over the surface. Sprinkle salt over the acid and rub in the mixture. Rinse with warm water and polish dry.