ideas to polish and protect bronze

[armand.seguin]

Hi,
I have a 40 year old CHB trawler built in Taiwan. Has lots of exposed real bronze fittings that I find quite tedious to keep clean and looking sharp. I've tried laboriously cleaning them and spraying with several different coatings, including some marketed for brass/bronze. Looks really good for about a month, then goes downhill fast. Then, it seems doubly hard to clean off the coating and get to real bronze again.

Maybe there is no "magic grease" available besides "elbow grease" but I'm hopefully that others have found a better solution to keep the bronze fittings shiny and shipshape.

Thanks,

Armand

[Kokanee]

This guy has a few good tips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXJfKxUvnvA

[tkeithlu]

No magic. I can make our large and very exposed bell look good for a year or so (almost two right now) by polishing it up and then spraying it with lacquer or polyurethane VERY CAREFULLY. The usual problems are not getting a tight seal in the groves that circle the bell. I usually remove the stuff with a wire wheel, which for some reason results in a dark bronze finish (steel on bronze?).

The US Navy gets away with it because it takes more swabbies to fight a ship than it does to sail a it, so there's all this free labor standing around.

[Orion Jim]

Verdigris is nature’s polish......

[Bycrick]

Sign on a boat I visited:

TEAK IS GRAY
BRASS IS GREEN

[Benz]

Take your boat to sea and let some pure salt water wash over the bronze for a day or so. It will then turn a beautiful bright green.
'nuff said.

[armand.seguin]

Originally Posted by Kokanee

This guy has a few good tips.

Thanks, Bar Keeper's Friend! I have some...but I also have used a coarse plastic wheel. But sounds like nobody has so far figured out how to keep it looking Bristol. So much work...for??

Since many suggested "natural Green", and I don't have a large crew (me) that may have to do.

Armand

[Alan Mighty]

I've worked as crew very briefly on a superyacht that had THE answer to keeping bronze (not brass) looking shiny.

Simple.

Goldplating. Doesn't take much, apparently. Just a thin layer of gold.

At US$19,000/ounce, it's not kind to your wallet. But when economies around the world are growing fast, the price of gold falls.

Should we live so long, we might see that (world economic growth) again.

[Orion Jim]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

I've worked as crew very briefly on a superyacht that had THE answer to keeping bronze (not brass) looking shiny.

Simple.

Goldplating. Doesn't take much, apparently. Just a thin layer of gold.

At US$19,000/ounce, it's not kind to your wallet. But when economies around the world are growing fast, the price of gold falls.

Should we live so long, we might see that (world economic growth) again.

I’d be happy to sell you all of my gold for a very reasonable price....far below your quoted figure

[rbk]

I’m in the green crowd for exterior bronze but I also give it a rub down with teak oil every so often. It darkens the green and makes it less flaky/chalky looking. Gives a nicer finishing and very easy to reapply.