Removing brass polish residue

Marysara Naczi <mnaczi [at] gmail__com> writes

>I am a conservation intern trying to determine the most effective
>way to safely remove polish residue from a large collection of
>historic brass objects.  Many of these objects are incised or
>pierced with residue in the interstices. ...

Some years ago I faced a similar problem with a brass memorial
tablet. The old polish had become rock hard and resisted all the
gentle methods of removal we could think of.  Finally we borrowed a
dentist's portable drill and removed the polish residue with brushes
and very fine drills. It was a painstaking slow process, but very
successful in the end.

I was working with guidance from a conservator.

Robyn Waymouth
Archivist
Royal Women's Hospital
Melbourne
Australia


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 25:40
                  Distributed: Saturday, March 3, 2012
                       Message Id: cdl-25-40-006
                                  ***