Posted by Chuck(G) on March 02, 2004 at 18:23:04:
All this chatter about raw brass vs. lacquer vs. silverplate got me to wondering if there wasn't some sort of middle ground between raw brass and lacquer/plating.
We've all seen bronzes in museums and sculpture gardens where absolutely no attempt is made to protect them from the grubby hands of the public. I got to wondering if the museums used anything to protect these things, since it seems that they should be just as susceptible to acid skin oils as one's CC pride and joy.
I called my neighbor, Lex, who teaches art at one of the local high schools and does some bronzes herself and asked her about preservation. Her response was "Oh sure, we use Ren Wax--it's great". Ren Wax, short for Renaissance Wax, is a microcrystalline hard wax developed by the British Museum for exactly the purpose of preservation.
I picked up a 200 ml (about a half-pound) container of Ren Wax at a local woodworking store (it seems knife and sword makers as well as woodworkers use it too). It's not cheap--the half-pound cost about $20.
I cleaned one of my brass project horns using the metal polish closest at hand (Noxon) and applied the Ren Wax according to the instructions on the container. A little goes a long way. It goes on white and cloudy and then dries quickly to a hard finish that can be buffed with a soft cloth. Although it imparts a slightly hazy look to the polished brass, it's not very noticeable.
My first reaction after playing the waxed tuba for an hour is that the stuff does not show fingerprints and water does bead up nicely.
So far, so good. I'll keep you all posted on how it holds up. My hope is that this stuff is better than nothing, even if it's not lacquer or plating.