When I have repaired antique furniture in the past, nothing looks more out of place then shiny new brass on an old piece of furniture it just doesn't look right.

Here is my trick, pour a little ammonia into a glass bowl, I then put a old discarded thread spool into the bowl or a block of wood that will elevate the piece I am tarnishing above the ammonia level and place the brass piece on top of it ,cover the bowl making it airtight. The process takes only a few minutes, the amount of tarnish on the brass is regulated by how long you leave the piece exposed to the vapors.

Quick,easy, and it really works!

Oh, and cheap too........

Bill

Sounds easy to do. Have you any pictures of the result, i'm curious how the end result lookt like.

This is interesting, because I'd just read an article in a woodworking magazine about how Greene & Greene would use a similar approach to darken wood.

They made two interesting points in the article:

1) It's the ammonia fumes that do the work; just spashing the ammonia on the surface won't work, because when it's in solution it has a different chemical composition.

2) If you're doing wood, expect it to take up to 36 hours, assuming you train a heat lamp on it to keep the temperature inside your plastic tent to around 80F.

I'm tempted to give it a try on some of the walnut stripwood that I got with my kit that's significantly lighter than the rest. The article talked about managing an uneven wood color, such as some light walnut sapwood, and suggested "painting" the lighter areas with tea before fuming with ammonia. The ammonia darkens the wood by acting on the tannin, and a tea wash on the lighter wood adds more tannin.

Just be careful with the ammonia fumes. The photo with the article showed the woodworker wearing a gas mask.

- Tom

This is interesting, because I'd just read an article in a woodworking magazine about how Greene & Greene would use a similar approach to darken wood.

They made two interesting points in the article:

1) It's the ammonia fumes that do the work; just spashing the ammonia on the surface won't work, because when it's in solution it has a different chemical composition.

2) If you're doing wood, expect it to take up to 36 hours, assuming you train a heat lamp on it to keep the temperature inside your plastic tent to around 80F.

I'm tempted to give it a try on some of the walnut stripwood that I got with my kit that's significantly lighter than the rest. The article talked about managing an uneven wood color, such as some light walnut sapwood, and suggested "painting" the lighter areas with tea before fuming with ammonia. The ammonia darkens the wood by acting on the tannin, and a tea wash on the lighter wood adds more tannin.

Just be careful with the ammonia fumes. The photo with the article showed the woodworker wearing a gas mask.

- Tom

Nice to see you here, fellow DDM member. I wrote an article for DryDockModels a little while ago, and here is the link. Hope it helps. I work in chemistry, and this method is sure fire:

http://forum.drydockmodels.com/viewtopic.php?t=760

Regards

Thanks all for a wonderful forum

Nice to see you here, fellow DDM member. I wrote an article for DryDockModels a little while ago, and here is the link. Hope it helps. I work in chemistry, and this method is sure fire:
http://forum.drydockmodels.com/viewtopic.php?t=760
Regards
Thanks all for a wonderful forumFor those considering using the methods in the above article, you should first read these two "Material Safety Data Sheets" (MSDS):
Ammonia Solution, Strong (http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/A5472.htm)
Selenium Dioxide (http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/s1130.htm)