upkeep on brass?

[flatacid]

i recently aquired an old vm-68. i went too work on the barrel with some polishing compounds, and a drill. 6 hours later, it looked good as new. 1 day's worth of playing changed that. its starting to look bad again.

does anyone have tips on keeping a brass barrel looking good? its too much work for me to polish it up, just too have it tarnish again.

[BlackVCG]

Did you use brasso?

[Havoc_online]

gotta love brasso!

Havoc <-- 4yr jrotc junkie w/ the perfect uniform

[Vex]

Brasso and Naval Jelly work well, but I find that NevrDull works the best. I have polished many a brass items (military unit coins) with NevrDull, and they've shined for years.

[flatacid]

thanks guys. great recommendations. where would i pick up some stuff like that?

[Vex]

Wal-Mart should have any of the above. Home Depot or Lowe's have these as well, and will probably be your best bet for a bigger variety. As a last resort, try an antiques or furniture store.

Glad to help!

[flatacid]

i hate walmart. but thats a different subject.

thanks. i need to buff it out again, then i will apply some type of polish.

[flatacid]

well. i went to home depot. that was a bust. they were all out of brasso. so i went to my local auto store. asked if he had brasso. he said they didn't carry that, they carry'ed nevrdull. that stuff rules. i was surprised. even after washing peices in warm soapy water, nevrdull got a ton of dirt off. i didn't even see it.

thanks everyone. especially phazeshifter.

[Lee]

you can get brasso at the grocery store too. look in the household cleaner aisle.

to help keep it clean inbetween polishings, you can wad up a paper towel and soak it in rubbing alcohol and run it through the bore w/ a squeegie or wood dowel. this will cut through any paint or oil. then run a dry wadded up paper towel through it. this should cut down on how often you need to polish it.

[Vex]

NevrDull is the poop! Glad to help!

[flatacid]

Originally posted by Lee
you can get brasso at the grocery store too. look in the household cleaner aisle.

to help keep it clean inbetween polishings, you can wad up a paper towel and soak it in rubbing alcohol and run it through the bore w/ a squeegie or wood dowel. this will cut through any paint or oil. then run a dry wadded up paper towel through it. this should cut down on how often you need to polish it.

i thought i read somewhere that paper towels can scratch the inside's of barrels? i could be completly wrong on this. but i had been doing this for years until i heard this. then i switched to terry cloth.

[Lee]

i've never heard that and have been doing it for years w/ no trouble. if in doubt, use good quality paper towels. terry cloth can't hurt and is actually a very good idea.

[Vex]

300th Post!!

Paper products can, and eventually will, scratch aluminum. You can use them on steel, but I'm not too certain about brass. Your best bet over all is to just keep doing like you are--use cloth--at least you can be for certain that it won't scratch your barrel(s).