Colouring brass, bronze and copper formulae

[Tarbicus]

Just stumbled across this:

For anyone who's ever been in the military and had to frequently polish brass, one of the things that produce the quickest and very nice colored "patina" is the human fingerprint. Just one touch on a piece of shiny brass or copper will start showing a nice color in a matter of hours - LOL. So, using that concept, I came up with something that combines the principle elements of a fingerprint: water, salt, oil, acids, mild caustics, and amino acids.

If you're interested, here's Fred Flintstone's recipe for the mixture I've used with very good success - for about 1.5 gallons of mixture:

1. One gallon of water
2. One cup of filtered bacon grease thinned with about 1/2 cup cooking oil (amino acids and oils).
3. Two cups of sea salt (aquarium salt from Wal-Mart or pet store).
NOTE: Sea salt works much better than table salt because it contains many other reactive elements that enhance the oxidation process.
4. One quart of white vinegar (mild acid).
5. Liquid dishwashing soap (mild caustic and wetting agent).

Mix the water and vinegar (acid) together; then begin stirring in the sea salt. Keep adding salt in small quantities (amounts will vary with water quality) and stir it in well to make sure it all dissolves. Add more salt and stir it in well again. Stop adding salt when the water becomes completely saturated and a little undissolved salt starts falling to the bottom of the container when you quit stirring for a few seconds. The bacon grease (amino acids and oil) should be thinned with only enough cooking oil so that it is not solidified at room temperature. Without stirring the mixture, simply
pour the bacon grease/cooking oil mixture into the solution (yes, I know it won't mix). Now, begin adding liquid dishwashing soap just a little bit at a time as you gently stir it into the mixture; continue adding a few drops of soap at a time (while stirring) until the layer of oil "mixes" with the solution. The object here is not to create a sudsy mess, but only to add enough dishwashing liquid (as a wetting agent) until the oil becomes part of the solution instead of floating on top. Brent

[url:qbt67v44]http://www.geocities.com/teeley2/coloring.html[/url]