MTFCA Forum

What do you use to take off old varnish. or lacquer or whatever coating they put on brass lamps after they polish them.

I accidentally tried polishing older brass with a wire wheel brush and took off the shinny coating. Now I have to do the whole thing.

Thank you in advanced. Bob

Try with Cellulose Thinner. It works for me. Soak it in a bucket over night.
After I used SIDOL to clean the brass and polished it with journal paper.

Good luck
Andre
Belgium

Acetone! But you have to be careful with it, especially when disposing of used rags.

Lacquer thinner will take off lacquer and old varnish as well. I’m curious. Why were you using a wire brush on brass? When polishing a soft metal such as brass, I have always used a bench grinder equipped with a buffing wheel coated with jewelers rouge to attain a mirror finish. A wire wheel will do nothing but deeply scratch and permanently damage the surface of the brass. I guess it is ok if you are seeking a dull scratched surface. Jim Patrick

a wire wheel will do irrepairable damage to smooth polished brass. A lot more brass will have to be removed to get a pit-free surface again and you will lose a lot of detail. Many logos and other delicate details are destroyed this way. Change tactics.

I had lamps that were treated with something other than lacquer and it was tough stuff. Nothing but soaking in acetone for several days would remove it.

Thanks for the advice. I mentioned the brass wheel because I sometime use it on badly tarnished metal including certain thick brass parts such as carburetor knobs, and that's only if my regular polish does not remove it. Yea, I learned my lesson, I've ruined brass before by using a wheel!

I think MEK will attack just about anything it is nasty stuff.

I bought some lacquer thinner a few years ago to dissolve some dried boiled linseed oil. It was the "low odor" variety, which was all I could find at the time, it was also the "low performance" variety. It didn't do squat, the old good lacquer thinner would have melted it out in a heartbeat. Gosh, I'm so glad the EPA is protecting us so well. Dave

I soaked these in hot water over a period of several days. Then used a piece of wood and a finger nail to peal off lacquer coating.
It took awhile but the results was worth the effort.