Cleaning tarnish from bronze

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Anny Middon - 25 Oct 2005 16:44 GMT

I have a few small antique items made of bronze with sterling accents. They
were very tarnished so I tried silver polish on them, which cleaned up the
sterling parts really well. There are still stains on the bronze part.

What should I use on the bronze? The brass polish I have doesn't list
bronze as a metal it will clean, plus I don't want to damage the silver.

TIA,
Anny

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Choreboy - 26 Oct 2005 21:06 GMT

> I have a few small antique items made of bronze with sterling accents. They
> were very tarnished so I tried silver polish on them, which cleaned up the
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> TIA,
> Anny

Often, tarnished bronze is considered more attractive than shiny bronze.
Tarnish protects bronze.

Salt and vinegar or salt and lemon juice will remove tarnish from
bronze. It can be applied directly, made into a paste with flour, or
added to water in which the object is boiled. Then the object must be
thoroughly rinsed and dried because chlorides rot bronze.

I don't know if the presence of silver would cause a problem.

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Anny Middon - 28 Oct 2005 16:11 GMT

> Often, tarnished bronze is considered more attractive than shiny bronze.
> Tarnish protects bronze.

I wouldn't mind the tarnish if it was even, but the pieces look stained.
Maybe if I let them go away the tarnish will even them out.

But then of course the silver will tarnish, too. ANd the reason I decided
to polish them was that the silver was black with tarnish.

> Salt and vinegar or salt and lemon juice will remove tarnish from
> bronze. It can be applied directly, made into a paste with flour, or
> added to water in which the object is boiled. Then the object must be
> thoroughly rinsed and dried because chlorides rot bronze.
>
> I don't know if the presence of silver would cause a problem.

Thanks. If it doesn't even out on its own I'll try one of these -- being
careful to avoid the lines of silver.

Anny

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Homeowner Forum / Cleaning / October 2005

Cleaning tarnish from bronze