removing red rouge

[xiphmont]

Rouge is from the tumbler

These are the same brass parts?

You don't really need to use the rouge on brass. It's a very soft metal and should shine up nicely with Tripoli.

Remember, always apply very small amounts of compound at a time. Too much causes lots of problems.

This is still from the mechanically prepared parts coming out of the tumbler. I'm trying to develop a pratical, at least 90%-automated process. Right now, my experiments are with two process variants:

1) medium triangles-> fine triangles-> walnut w/rouge-> copper plate-> copy chrome
2) medium triangles-> fine triangles-> copper plate-> walnut w/rouge-> copy chrome

...followed by final buffing. All the tumbler steps are one full day; triangles with an alkaline acetate, and walnut/rouge dry.

I've not yet tried skipping the walnut/rouge step entirely or using walnut without rouge (the next obvious thing to try). The copper from process 2 looks surprisingly good, but it looks even better after a day in the tumbler with walnut/rouge. Process 1 is proving impractical; I just can't get all the rouge off as the surface is still slightly rough pre-copper. Surprisingly hard for brass... is that due to the high nickel content?

Either way, the copper is much better at hiding a slightly satin surface than I expected. I expected it to require much closer to a mirror surface before copper. I'm still learning by doing. At least at this point I've proven that the all-machine prep is practical even if I haven't worked out all the details yet.

Oh, last question: what would you use for final buff? I was thinking of trying untreated walnut shell and the following next:

copper plate-> walnut-> copy chrome -> walnut

I don't care if all the parts spend weeks total in a machine, so long as my hands are free to do the other restoration work while that is happening without close supervision.

Monty

[mcaswell]

These are the same brass parts?

You don't really need to use the rouge on brass. It's a very soft metal and should shine up nicely with Tripoli.

Remember, always apply very small amounts of compound at a time. Too much causes lots of problems.

[xiphmont]

Oh, another question...

I've been buffing with rouge between plating steps (both by hand and in the tumbler). Getting the stuff off is difficult! There always seem to be spots where I think I've gotten it all off, but I obviously havent... as the next plating step will show. I even have a few nice, obvious fingerprints that show really well through the next layer of copper

How can I be sure to get it all off? I've been using a dtergent soap, as the SP degreaser doesn't seem to even touch it. I'm getting to the point of just deciding not to use it at all. The parts I'm plating are tiny and intricate enough that even a toothbrush is a slightly oversie tool...

Monty