Cleaning Brass Articles
Embossed or undercut brass work may be easily cleaned by boiling the pieces in a strong solution of caustic soda or lye, and then immersing them in a mixture of hydrochloric acid, 6 parts; water, 2 parts, and nitric acid, 1 part, until they become covered with a dark deposit. Take them from the solution and remove the black substance with a fine scratch brush. After cleaned in this manner, rinse in hot water and dry in hot sawdust.
A fine orange-yellow tinge may be given to the brass by substituting an equivalent weight of powdered alum for the nitric acid in the solution.—Contributed by Mrs. Richard F. Pohle, E. Lynn, Mass.