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I have a horn in raw brass. It's getting tarnished alright but I have some places where water streaked it and it doesn't look even. I think I want to shine it up nice and even and hope the next try at a brass patina goes better.

What's a good brand of brass polish to be applied by hand with a cloth? Does anyone use something like car wax on top to keep it bright a little longer?

Jeff "Rub-a-Dub" Benedict

Brasso works pretty well...I think some people use Wenol...I haven't tried the Wenol myself.

I use something called Beats-um-all. It has a little bit of wax in it to help keep the shine. It works really well on horn. I got mine at a car show but it is available online. It isnt cheap but it works a heck of lot better than brasso.

I'll second this recommendation Hagerty's Coppersmith's polish.

Playing in a Civil War band, brass polish is a staple. Our concensus pick of the dozens we have used is easily Cape Cod Polish. Easy to use and not at all messy, it is far away the most effective.
http://www.capecodpolish.ca/merchant.ih ... =46&step=4" target="_blank

re: elephant

Holy Sh**!! Now I know what my rawbrass Deck-o-phone would look like. Can you explain your procedure and how the rouge is used? Where does one find chunks of rouge? How often do you have to re-polish it to keep the shine? Wow....I'm inspired now.

Ok..wow...like...too much work. I guess I'll play my tuba rather than make it all pretty like.
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More on topic (as opposed to a "Moron Topic"....which I'm sure I've started from time to time), I used a product called Nevrdull on a beater horn when I was in high school. It seemed to be a pretty powerful polish. What are the pros opinions of it?

Another vote for SimiChrome.

sugawi wrote:Another vote for SimiChrome.

YESSS! It's the only stuff I've ever used that really wipes off clean after polishing without leaving black residue.

the elephant wrote:Joe is right. To play a raw brass tuba you need to LIKE how it looks when tarnished and to take good care of it so that it can tarnish evenly.

Yes! This is what I am looking to do. Bright and shiny is great but I like the brownish brass patina as well. It just needs to be kinda even without big streaks and mars all over the horn. Polishing it two or three times a year sounds about right to me. Would be taking too much time out of the beer 'n' bratz action otherwise...

The wipedown with the valve-oily rag sounds like a good suggestion. Sounds like Simichrome is the stuff. I'll have to get some....

NevrDull, if you can find it, for a good quality amateur job. It's not messy, a can of it will last longer than you own that tuba, and a little water on the metal will help it take almost any kind of crud off.

It does require a good follow-up to remove the residue, as Dan mentioned.