Polish or Stripping Tubas

[The Big Ben]

Get it really, really clean with household cleaner and a sponge then use Simichrome on it (available in auto parts stores). It might look shiny enough. Most of the red would probably still be there. It takes something pretty abrasive to remove it. I had an older 186 I treated this way and it looked better than when I started.

Stripping and buffing takes a lot of effort. A lot.

[dave_matheson]

I'm halfway thru a similar "project" on my old Besson horn ... the red patina is really really tough to get rid of.

My goal is to get this old Besson stripped down to bare brass & polished ... I may or may not (at that point) take it to an autobody repair shop to get them to clear-coat the finished product with lacquer ... but I can't count the number of hours it's taken me to get to the point I'm at, which is about 60% complete.

I've tried 4 commercial metal polish / cleaner products so far. Brasso is the best for the initial "grunt work", and I'll follow the Brasso with another metal polish afterwards (Simichrome is pretty good at shining the brass up to a high lustre) ... I'll dig out the other two bottles of product I tried and report back in another post. With the exception of Brasso, none of the other metal polish / clean are "cheap", dollar-wise, btw ... again, Brasso for the initial "attack"

Those ugly red patina stains ... really really tough to get rid of. Brasso & tons of "elbow grease" only "helps". In a few places I've resorted to 1,500 grit wet/dry sandpaper. Even with THAT ... the $@&(! red patina is a battle.

If anyone out there has won the "red patina" wars ... I'd love to know how you did it. "my worn-out fingers thank you"

[Michael Bush]

Not sure where it ranks on the brain damage scale, but Easy Off oven cleaner will make a difference pretty fast for getting rid of lacquer...

[Michael Bush]

Not sure where it ranks...

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TODAY IS HIS BIRTHDAY

Which is why I get a pass for not reading the OP very carefully, right?

[PMeuph]

To remove the red patina, i've used brasso. Even then, it takes several passes To get it clean.

The quick and dirty way i've used, but wont work as it too harsh on lacquer is to use some orange gojo with pumice. One pass of that and the red patina was gone.

I've also applied dollar store lemon pledge and remember it removing some of the red stuff, probably would still need several passes to remove the red. A long strip of cloth strapped around the instrument works well.. Jean fabric, althought not soft enough to shine it up, can take a lot of force and that helps.

If your patient enough, you could try polishing only the red areas with a dremel tool.. If you're careful, you could end up polishing the areas back to shiny brass and then cover in car wax.

Y mv.

[WC8KCY]

You might wish to try 3M Cleaner Wax, sold at auto parts stores.

[dave_matheson]

Some good suggestions / ideas on this thread ... thanks everyone, I suddenly have "hope" again that I will win the battle with that *@#%$! red patina

[capt_tuba]

I’m getting ready to take the lacquer off of my horn and my buddy who did instrument repair recommended that I use gasket remover to take the lacquer off. That might work for the red patina issue. The spray is what he told me to use. Good luck.