How to age brass screw heads

[The Bear]

Hi
Anyone got a good and easy method to age brass screw heads? I tried a method I found online that involves putting them in a small airtight pot with vinegar and salt but didn't work which suggests they are lacquered?
Any easy ideas, I only need 3 screws doing

Cheers

Mark

 

[Bod]

What size and how aged?
If it's only 3, I may have some older ones, in certain sizes.
Do a swap.

Bod

 

[ED65]

Strip the finish in cellulose thinners, acetone or paint stripper then try again?

I think if you have a gas cooker though you have a much easier option: just hold them in the (padded) jaws of a pliers and heat them up in a flame. It'll burn off any lacquer and then oxidise the brass.

Once stripped of a protective finish brass will soon tone down on its own though.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Bury them in a flowerbed for a short while. Obviously you only want to age the heads, so you might dip the threads in warm wax first.

But as soon as you apply a screwdriver you will tend to chew up the slots, leaving give-away bright marks. Electrical tape over the blade might help - make sure the blade is well-formed, as parallel-sided as possible and square, to minimise slipping, and drive a steel screw of the same thread first in each hole, so you cut the thread with it.

 

[The Bear]

Thanks for the replies. Bod, thank you for the offer, but I'll try the other 2 methods first since I don't need to leave the house to try them.

Mark

 

[woodbloke66]

If you have a convenient stables nearby, try immersing the brass in horse urine. Pete Newton (Newt) recommended that method to me as one that's messy :lol: but apparently very effective - Rob

 

[Inspector]

If you have a convenient stables nearby, try immersing the brass in horse urine. Pete Newton (Newt) recommended that method to me as one that's messy :lol: but apparently very effective - Rob

Carefull. They sometimes kick when you are messing around back there. #-o

Pete

 

[The Bear]

Rob, the other side of my garden fence is a field of donkeys. No way am I getting anyway near one (or a horse, it used to be horses) while its emptying itself. Don't think they'ld even let you get close enough anyway. I'll try the other methods :wink:

Mark

 

[Inspector]

Well you could go where the donkey just did it and stick them in the still steaming ground and then you would be adding Eric's flowerbed, or at least close to it, method. Doubling up.

 

[niagra]

I've had success with household ammonia. Don't need very much.

 

[oakmitre]

Hard boiled egg, well boiled not runny.

Degrease the brass screws using white spirit. Mash the entire egg (the white is the more important part). Seal the screws and mashed egg into a ziplock bag or plastic container.

They don't have to necessarily touch, but the gas must flow and not be able to escape. Leave for a few hours.

 

[HappyHacker]

The easiest and most reliable is to screw them partially into a piece of wood and leave it outside for a few years.

You did not specify if you wanted them quickly

 

[Andrewf]

You can actually buy liquids for giving an aged or patina on various metals. Wife makes jewellery gets her stuff from H S Walsh.