Sealing Brass?

Hello all,

Having recently made a couple of brass signs (pics below) I'm wondering about how to seal - or even whether or not to bother.

My options so far are

• Spray on clear-coat
• Brush on shellac based lacquer
• Wax

I'm already using shellac to seal in the patina and I'm gravitating towards wax for the bare metal bits - my reasoning being that it's non-permanent and will allow for easier maintenance - ie. not having to remove lacquer once it crazes and the brass below starts to blacken.

Any opinions and further tips?

Many thanks.

Wal.

DO NOT laquer ! Unless extreme care is used the lacquer WILL NOT adhere to a polished surface and VERY easily chip with handeling. There is not prize for guessing how I know this ! The No 9 is brass the other looks more like a bronze ? Noel.

Microscope makers used to lacquer their instruments successfully why not use whatever they used (shellac based I believe). Personally I use Halfords clear lacquer and have never had it craze (so far).

If, as seems likely, the items are going to be exposed to the weather, the only real solution is lacquer. I can recommend Incralac. This was developed specifically for copper based alloys. A bit pricey, but good stuff. Available in tins or aerosol cans.

Mike

I believe you can get clear powder coating - that might be an option?

Rob

We used Incralac for brass letters on the stern of a boat; they have retained their polish nicely with no sign of cracking or crazing yet, and its been on there longer than I can remember.

Incralac it is, then.

Many thanks for your advice!

Wal.

Wal, lovely work! Please could you tell us how you made these? Presumably not cast, as traditionally done (?).

[Edit} Oh, just seen your other post. Presumably similar technique...

Edited By Kiwi Bloke on 12/05/2022 08:42:53

Kiwi, this technique is achieved using the 'texture' tool-path in VCarve. It's pretty cool but it takes an age to machine - less detail and bigger tools speed it up a bit, but there's a lot of up down, move a bit, up down, move a bit etc. Fine for one-offs, but certainly not a production technique, for example - the texture on the Church Villa sign took around 6-7 hours..! On my other post (the badge) the texture is modelled and machined with a 0.7mm ball-nose end-mill.

Wal.