Greeting's...

My Albion Arn Sword has been on display on my wall since July, & the bronze on the pommel has started to form a slight patina. I decided to shine the bronze up with some brasso. It came out really nice, & it's really shiny. This was 2 weeks ago. The pommel now has just a little spot of green on it; I'm sure the brasso did this. Is there any way to clean the bronze furniture on my sword, without messing it up? Someone told me that I can clean bronze with a toothbrush, & warm water with soap. Is this true? Thak you...

A lot of metal polishes leave traces of it behind unless you follow every nook and cranny with a soft polishing cloth. This green that appears is actually a form of verdigris and a reaction to the copounds in the polish and the metal of the pomme/fittings.. It takes just days to turn what was probably clear or whitish residue to the green of verdifris,

Cheers

GC

Yes, I know this... But that was entirely off from the question that I had asked... But thank you, anyway...

Nothing wrong with metal polishes and then making sure the finish is clean. A soft cloth will work to remove the residue.

I use Windex a lot but also just rubbing alcohol or water with /without detergents. Cleaning and polishing are two different things. I spend an inordinate amount of time carefully cleaning antiques and there are any number of possibilities for methods that work.

A soft cloth alone will remove dust and actually polish bronze all by itself. There are dedicated jewelers cloths that have a rouge impregnated cloth on one side and just a plain soft surface on the other.

Some institutions and others use a clear laquer to protect alloys such as bronze and brass from tarnushing.Silicon spray or gun cloth, as well as Renaissance wax will work.

Cheers

GC

Bronze may look nice - but it's a pain to keep it that way.

now if your fittings are on a smooth surface, i use eagle one original mag& aluminum wheel polish (which you can pick up at any automotive store and i use the paste) this is safe for use on all metals (unless it's chrome plated) and unlike a wax it doesn't trap any moisture left behind. rather after using this just keep the blade or fittings dry. or if you like i also used to use a rem oil product that i used on gun barrels. it's a spray on material that gently solidifies into some type of silicon (i can't break down the chemistry of it but it's been protecting all of my guns for years and i may only oil them down with this stuff once a year or after every use.)

but if it's a rough surface no matter what you use, liquid polishing agents or paste your going to have that hazy white residue behind in the cracks. it forms into a jelly like stuff that is a pain to get out. you can try rubbing alcohol and a tooth brush.

now if your bronze is tarnished and polishing compounds wont rub it off. if you go to your hard ware store get #6 polishing compound and a buffing wheel for your grinder, it will buff off the tarnish with very little abrasion. in fact bronze is soft enough that you won't even notice where you buffed out of the tarnish from the rest. #6 polish is so fine it will make the area mirror quality on bronze with out using the other compound before hand.

keeping bronze/brass shinny. ack, it's just a continually process - it will give you an excuse to keep taking the sword off the wall and cleaning it every so often. i have a sword of phosphore bronze which i clean once every 6 months with my eagle one polish, and that's about all it needs. phosphore bronze reddens as it ages, brass - turns that ugly black.

Personally I like aged bronze a lot more than polished as long as we are not talking of verdigris, very light polishing giving a light sheen and emphasizing ridges and corners.

But if you prefer bright and shiny using an abrasive pad of the same grit size as Albion uses to finish their blades and sword furniture should remove any " spotting " and give you back the original finish.