Polishing Zils WITHOUT Brasso
What does a belly dancer do on a Saturday morning? Polish zils, of course!
It's no secret that I am addicted to Pinterest. It's funny because I resisted joining for the longest time. My sister was determined to get me to sign up and eventually succeeded . Now, I don't know how I lived without it. One day, I decided to look up a way to polish brass without using Brasso. Mainly because I'm cheap. I didn't want to spend money on something I'll barely use. Plus, having to work with less chemicals would be nice. So while searching for a solution on Pinterest, I came across this tutorial.
I thought it would be perfect to use on my baby zils, Saroyan Mediterranean Delights. These are old school Saroyans, before Saroyan went under new management. I hardly play with them now. I have my FCBD® Signature zils because I prefer the dinner plate size over the pog size.
As I found out with my sword. You have to take extra care of your metal props when living in places with high humidity. Monticello and Hot Springs had insane humidity, and it didn't help that I lived in dwellings that had humidity problems. My poor zils suffered. I figured since I don't play with them anymore. I might as well try out this homemade brass polisher on them.
Read on before you report me for zil abuse.
So last night I mixed up the goop using half of the measurements. Even then that was too much for this project. 1/3 cup of flour with 1/3 cup of vinegar. I had actually added a smidgen more of the vinegar to get the goopy consistency. I intended to add 1/4 cup of salt, but since I'm a culinary snob, I only had sea salt crystals that I had to grind by hand. At 1/16 of a cup, I said "Eff it," and hoped it would be enough.
Not necessarily pleased with the results. Yeah, the tarnish was gone but the rust remained. They were extremely faded, and the texture of the brass felt wrong, too. So I got out my Super Eraser, which is designed to remove rust and polish the metal as well. Then only thing I don't like about this tool is that it leaves behind micro scratches. Found out the hard way when I was using it on my sword. So you need to pick a linear direction and stick to it. For the love of God do not rub in circles! I rubbed the eraser vertically and was pleased to see that very few micro scratches were left behind.
Much better! I then buffed them with a microfiber towel before I rubbed in some Renaissance wax. I made sure that I didn't touch the zils with my bare hands during and after the buffing. Didn't want to seal my skin oils in the wax. It may have been overkill, but at this point I was appeasing my guilt. Yeah, they're not back to brand new condition. A little of of rust remains to remind me how I neglected them. But they look and feel so much better now and still sound the same. All in all, I am pleased.
It's no secret that I am addicted to Pinterest. It's funny because I resisted joining for the longest time. My sister was determined to get me to sign up and eventually succeeded . Now, I don't know how I lived without it. One day, I decided to look up a way to polish brass without using Brasso. Mainly because I'm cheap. I didn't want to spend money on something I'll barely use. Plus, having to work with less chemicals would be nice. So while searching for a solution on Pinterest, I came across this tutorial.
I thought it would be perfect to use on my baby zils, Saroyan Mediterranean Delights. These are old school Saroyans, before Saroyan went under new management. I hardly play with them now. I have my FCBD® Signature zils because I prefer the dinner plate size over the pog size.
As I found out with my sword. You have to take extra care of your metal props when living in places with high humidity. Monticello and Hot Springs had insane humidity, and it didn't help that I lived in dwellings that had humidity problems. My poor zils suffered. I figured since I don't play with them anymore. I might as well try out this homemade brass polisher on them.
Read on before you report me for zil abuse.
So last night I mixed up the goop using half of the measurements. Even then that was too much for this project. 1/3 cup of flour with 1/3 cup of vinegar. I had actually added a smidgen more of the vinegar to get the goopy consistency. I intended to add 1/4 cup of salt, but since I'm a culinary snob, I only had sea salt crystals that I had to grind by hand. At 1/16 of a cup, I said "Eff it," and hoped it would be enough.
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| I actually like the tarnished look, but I was worried about the rust eating away at the metal. |
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| Closeup of the sacrificial Saroyans. |
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| All Gooped Up. I let them sit overnight. |
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| Good Morning Zils! Well Something happened. |
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| Washing away the dried goop with warm water. Dried them immediately. |
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| Well... |
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| Hmm... |
Not necessarily pleased with the results. Yeah, the tarnish was gone but the rust remained. They were extremely faded, and the texture of the brass felt wrong, too. So I got out my Super Eraser, which is designed to remove rust and polish the metal as well. Then only thing I don't like about this tool is that it leaves behind micro scratches. Found out the hard way when I was using it on my sword. So you need to pick a linear direction and stick to it. For the love of God do not rub in circles! I rubbed the eraser vertically and was pleased to see that very few micro scratches were left behind.
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| Seems to be working! My little one unintentionally photobombing, lol. |
Much better! I then buffed them with a microfiber towel before I rubbed in some Renaissance wax. I made sure that I didn't touch the zils with my bare hands during and after the buffing. Didn't want to seal my skin oils in the wax. It may have been overkill, but at this point I was appeasing my guilt. Yeah, they're not back to brand new condition. A little of of rust remains to remind me how I neglected them. But they look and feel so much better now and still sound the same. All in all, I am pleased.
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| Redemption |
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