Brass Tarnishing & Cleaning

Your plaque has been made with top quality engravers brass, but as with all brass, once exposed to the weather it will tarnish over time. You may also notice small fine surface scratches, this is a perfectly normal and is naturally occurring in this type of brass.

To keep the polished brass looking new, it needs to be regularly polished from the start using a standard brass cleaner and following the manufacturer's instructions - we recommend Brasso.   

To prolong periods between polishing, the exposed brass may be coated lightly in Vaseline or Olive Oil . This will not detract from the appearance of the plate yet reduces the rate of tarnishing.

An alternative is to apply a lacquer. Although this does delay tarnishing, it will never completely stop it, and the lacquer itself also deteriorates over time.
Future brass cleaning would require removal of the lacquer with a paint stripper. This is not a problem with the unpainted engraved plaques, but would remove the paint infill on signs with coloured letters.

Click here for more information about cleaning brass

For maintenance free signs you might consider the gold coloured engraved exterior laminate, anodised aluminium signs, acrylic with gold backing or stainless steel