Good morning all. Recent joiner here. First of all I want to thank all th members for all the great info. Before this I did not know an NRV from an SUV and so my restoration of an old 111B is progressing nicely. I have spent many hours searching so I don't think I am repeating this question. After a good soak in vinigar (30 minutes max, I know!), brushing to remove the crud, and a good rinse - I was wondering if using my Dremel with BRASS brushes was a good idea to get the remaining crud off the burner, flame ring and windsheild. I did a test on an old broken burner and it seemed to work fine and was pretty quick. The bristle brushes work great on removing the Brasso from the nooks, crannies and lettering.
I like 0000 steel wool. Look and see if your dremel is leaving any deep marks, if it isn't, I'm sure it's fine. They polished these stoves pretty well to begin with so I err on the side of gentle and try to remove as little material as possible. Any time you polish one of these things you are removing brass so I think less is more. Good luck sir!
Hi RichP, for the burner (not the tank or fount) using brass wheel with a dremel will take out some of the crud but would normally suggest using stainless. My experience, brass on brass sometimes make it worse or give a brakish color. For the fount 0000 stainless wool is best before final shining with brasso. Ron
My hypothesis on this topic is as follows. 0000 steel wool produces uber-tiny scratches which are in reality ridges and valleys, invisible to the naked eye. When the brass begins to oxidize, these tiny ridges oxidize first and faster, creating a shorter time the stove will look nice. I use "Mothers Mag & Aluminum polish which has much finer grit (around 15,000+) which will produce much "lower" ridges, thus preserving the shiny finish longer. It does a great job and doesn't appear to require as much "grinding" as the 0000 steel wool. There is a product available in Europe and Canada called "Autosol Metal Polish", sold in a tube which appears to be exactly the same product. YMMV Stan
Hi Rich for realy tarnished and heavey crud i soak all the parts in very mild solution of citric acid,i have used a very very mild soloution of spirits of salt desolved in hot water,a very mild soloution i must say,for 10 mins,making sure the brass does not turn pink which is harmfull to brass and can cause stress cracking in the future. I clean off the crud tarnish with ultra fine steel wool(0000)grade or a worn green dish scourer, I have a elctric buffing wheel with three grades of mops and buffing soap starting with the soft coarse grade and finishing with the harder fine grade for the final polish,when useing the polishing mops i only use gentle pressure and let the mops do the work so as not to remove more brass than is needed. Once i have rerached the desired sheen i apply a couple of coats of clear laquare to protect the brass from chemical attack IE amonia which can cause stress cracking,another thing i have learnt from members on here. All so the laquare will prevent further tarnishing,so the stoves will not need to be polished as the more the stove is polished the more the brass will ware away loosing some of the detail of any engraveing on the stove. What ever method you decide to clean and polish your stoves extreme caution should be used,to prevent any damage or ware to the brass,all ways use gentle pressure when polishing and not try to do to much at once
