Refinishing Brass Freestanding Fireplace

[hella_vintage_flame]

I restore freestanding fireplaces, generally they're finished in porcelain enamel, however I've come to obtain a Wonderful brass unit. The cone is solid brass, while the pipes are plated.

How can I remove the tarnish and have it looking new without removing the plating?

I've contacted a brass refinishing company in my area and their response was they can't do anything about the plated pipe (am waiting to hear back about the solid brass cone).


These both sit on top of a simple steel duplicate which carry the smoke and majority of heat (so the brass cone sits on top of a steel cone with an air gap of several inches. Same with the pipe; so the brass pieces are not exposed to smoke).

Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks

[awerby]

Solid brass is pretty simple to polish; there are household polishes sold that usually have some abrasive in them (like Brasso) that will remove tarnish and gunk. But that company was right; anything like that will damage the thin brass plating on the pipes. You can go ahead anyway and then have the pipes re-plated. You can use non-abrasive tarnish removers (which generally require dipping the parts in a solution and soaking a while). Or you can do what sculptors and antique dealers do and refer to the "patina" as something valuable that shouldn't be removed.