Have any of you ever used Wenol metal cleaner / polish? I have used all kinds of stuff but never this. Due to my current restoration project, I was urged to try this to clean heavily tarnished brass. I am restoring a brass bell that came off of a Southern Railroad Steam Engine #440 which was a Baldwin 2-8-0, manufactured around 1900-1903. I acquired the bell from the gentleman that got it when this engine was being scrapped in 1950. So, I've got over 100 years of tarnish to remove and am looking any advice from anyone that may have experience polishing brass. I have used Flitz on other items, tried it on this, along with Brasso but still have a lot of work to do. The Flitz has done ok, but............ still got a lot of polishing to do.
Its my favourite polish for bare aluminum, but I've never used it on brass that I can recall.
I think I've tried most of the aluminum polishes available on my BBS RA rims, and Wenol leaves a slightly better shine than the rest for only a small price increase. Easy to use and doesn't smell too bad either.
Its hard to find at auto parts stores around here, but most decent kitchen shops will carry it for polishing stainless, and motorcycle shops tend to sell it too. I think I've seen it at Restoration Hardware and places like that as well.
Wenol will be your first plan of attack for 100 plus years of tarnish. If you use some sort of buffing wheel with the Wenol after much work you should be able to break through the tarnish and get to the real brass underneath. Yes it is a lot of work to be sure. After you have accomplished a clean shinny brass surface try some Cap Cod polish to get a better shine. After the Cape Cod polish I usually clean the part with Simple Green and warm water. Follow the dry cleaned part with some Carnuba wax or for a lasting finish with a clear lacquer.
The Cape Cod polish works on all types of metals, brass, aluminum, chrome, etc. and is probably the finest "grit" polish for metals I have found, and it smells good, a prerequisite for a fun time. Always use the least invasive cleaner / polish first.
Oh, oh I just let one of my secrets go for all to see, here are some examples:
Regards,
280SE Guy
You polished the exhaust heat shield???
You, sir, have surpassed me, I proclaim you Most Obsessed With A Car, and I hand over my crown.
*edit*
I re-read your post, you used a buffing wheel, I everything I polish, I do by hand.
*takes back crown*
Highway Star,
You can keep your crown. In the use of a polishing wheel I was instructing the original poster who was polishing a 100+ year old heavily tarnished brass bell from a locomotive.
My heat shield was hand polished.
I have my own crown that can be seen here.
Regards,
280SE Guy
I used to use that stuff all the time. Never found a better metal polish. Where did you find it? I haven't seen it in stores out here for at least a decade.
You can order it at wenolit.com or believe it or not, I found some at the Williams Sonoma store. If you order it, it's $10 per tube and $10 freight. I was so excited to find it in the store. The Wenol works better than any other polish I have tried, but removing 100 years of tarnish from a brass bell in spare time is taking a while, but the bell is going to be a nice addition to my train layout.
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Probably one of the best for polishing brass, and an old stand-by. Our drill sergeants in officer candidate school in 1969 had it shipped back from Germany for us to use to polish brass. There are probably some high-tech modern formulations that can beat it, but for brass and chrome it is terrific. Be careful though; with hard extended use it will wear right through any chrome that doesn't have a thick top layer.
Gary
Gary Anderson Editor, The Star
2005 C55 AMG
Member, San Francisco Bay Area Section
Secretary, MBCA Educational Foundation
Vintage racing driver, track driving instructor