How to Age Brass Using Vinegar and Salt 

Great info. I dug around online and everything said "easy, use salt and vinegar", after soaking for two days it was still shiny. Finally someone explains it.

I could listen to this man talk for hours

If you heat up the vinegar to a boil, then add salt, and suspend the object inside the container you can get the same tarnishing effect in 10 to 30 minutes.

Harry Rodgers is absolutely correct! Great cheap solution! I was a bit skeptical that just the "fumes" would create tarnish, but they did. I have 2 9 inch brass koi from circa 1950 that a previous owner had painted. After stripping the paint I placed them in a plastic shoe box with about 1/2 and inch of vinegar and salt in the bottom. The parts of the koi that were in the vinegar/salt mix didn't tarnish, but the parts that were just exposed to the fumes began tarnishing within about an hour. I ended up putting some wood strips in the bottom of the shoe box so none of the koi wire in the mix.

Thanks Harry. I bought an antique desk with a brass handle missing. I found an identical one but it was a modern replica. This tip is exactly what i needed.

Excellent information although SHOWING it might be better especially on amounts of stuff. I tried this with excellent results. The vapors are the thing. Using a very small Tupperware container I added salt and vinegar and then coated the walls 360x360 for maximum vapor production. I set my container at a small angle so the vinegar would drain to the bottom and the object would remain in the upper level. I saw positive results within two hours. If I do this again I will use hot glue to make some retaining ridges that better hold the object while allowing the vinegar to drain away...like a dish drainer.... even in droplets. My Tupperware container measures 2 in x 3.5 in. 1 in. THE VAPORS ARE THE THING. Thanks, Harry Rogers!

Thanks so much Harry. I almost bought a expensive solution on line, so silly I know! After all, it occurs naturally outdoors over time. Great honest tutorials!

This was a very good tip! Thanks for posting it! Bob from Central Virginia, United States of America.

Harry this information was quite useful, and a much cheaper remedy than the expensive bottled products I purchased from, the hardware store chain. Simply home ingredients and some good informational sources. You've earned yourself a 'thumbs up' and a new subscriber. Cheers Mate!

Amazing home remedy! I had a shiny bronze buckle for a watch strap, and it didn't match the antique look my watch had, so I tried this method. I took a plastic pill container, I dropped some table salt, some white vinegar, I used the plastic ring of the container to hang the buckle inside the container (these rings that sit below the lid and seal them better) and then I sealed the container. I checked after 2 hours, and it was kinda still shiny, so I left it for another 2 hours (I replaced the salt and the vinegar after the first check), and voila! Thanks, Mr. Harry rogers!

Thank you for the explanation for WHY you don’t submerge the item completely... I watched a video prior to this that didn’t explain why and I INSTANTLY fully submerged the item

You made this advice as practical as entertaning... with the plus of good mood!

Thank you for this. The bit about some brass objects having a coat of lacquer helps so much! That's the problem I was running into. Will use some paint stripper to see if that helps. Thank you!!

Thank you Mr.Rodgers

Thanks so much for your help! Did this on some brass guitar parts and they turned out beautifully!

Is there a way to do it without having to submerge the item? I want to age some buckles on a pair of leather boots

"Harry Rogers"... That's awesome !!!

this is the best channel I've found in A WHILE and I mean really I just watched like 30 of your videos thank you for making videos for me and others if course!

Brilliant,thanks

Thanks for this video. This worked out really well for me I'm a jewelry making and had used a commercially sold product in the past; didn't like the smell and that they worked too rapidly. I like the results of this better as it gave a more naturally oxidized look. It did take overnight to get the darkening I was looking for though, but that's ok; did its work while I slept. Best regards!

Thank you, use this on my de-lacquered sax to give a nice patina. It looks great!

*useful information...making a jewelry box and needed a bit of patina on the screws to tie everything together*

Thanks

Thank you Harry, excellent video. Cheers, Ross

FANTASTIC! Just what I needed to find. Thanks so much!!!

I've used distilled vinager and salt for an unlaquered brass bracket for 3 hours in clingfilm. It has turned slightly pink/bronzey colour but not darkened. Is this normal?

Jolly good advice!! Thank you very much old bean!!

Thank you! I need to replace a hinge on a 100 year old gramophone and was wondering how I'd deal with the new, shiny brass one. Wonder no more.

I tried this and it didn't work for some reason. It left the brass pale with several pinkish spots of copper. I had to spend ages polishing it with Brasso to get it back to how it originally was, and I now need to find another method to give it an old looking patina..

Thank you. I have this nice brass zippo and where the sticker came off has minimal patina compared to the rest.

When you shake the container won’t the vinegar/salt solution cover the brass? I have an old Victorian brass 5”X 7” “Beware of Dog” plaque that someone went insane with the Brasso on. I’m going to clean off the green Brasso haze and try your vinegar treatment. Thanks for a great video.

Thanks for the easy instructions and stressing NOT to submerge the brass

will try this with a bronze sundial as the nice blue/green patina has some bronze coloured scratches on it...

Good tip. Simple tech but good result.

Thanks, Harry! This is fantastic.

Thank you 😊

Excellent, thanks

Thank you, you legend!

That is amazing!!! And to think we eat vinegar and salt, no wonder sometimes our stomachs get up set.

Thank you - have you ever tried similar with nickel silver, or have any similar tips relating to that?

Wonderful thank you very very much !

i am going to try this on a bit of brass i made to repair a brass tool, its in the pot now!

Does this work for brass plated stuff too? Also can’t wait to try this! This is so different from the salt and vinegar method I got from wikihow (which didn’t work the way I’d hoped)

Very helpful. Thank you!

any recommendations for turning a silver zip (on a garment) to brass?

I did this to my trumpet, in a plastic bag, with a fair amount of vinegar and salt. However, nothing has happened so far. That is after almost 24 hours! Why doesn’t it work for me? Thanks a lot!

I'm going to try this on an item for a dollhouse. :)

Hi Harry. Is it possible to whiten brass to make it look like silver?

very useful, thank you!

God, that's it, thank you! :)

Tried this method with the brass item in a dry open container within a sealed container containing the salt and vinegar. Colour hardly changed after 1.5 days?

Harry Rodgers aka Austin Powers. The vinegar tarnished my brass baby yeah!

Good tip!

is there a way to make nickel plated shower doors look like antique brass?

Harry how do you add a patenta to a gold plated watch strap ? Cheers mate

I found a 11oz nugget i thought was gold took it to kay jewelers and it past scratch test up to 12 carrot. Then i got it xrayed and they told me it was 60 peecent cooper 40 percent zinc. Im just confused. Can brass pass a good scratch test. I have a picture of the nugget

If i include say a design in sharpie on the brass would it act as a resist using this method of aging?

Mybpiece just turns green and when i remove green patina with watter its nit as brown as yours

He is the most British person ever.

Excellent tip, now how do you get aged brass to look shiny again ?.

if you are short on time a chlorine based bleach will do the job in about 2 minutes, and if mixed with caustic soda even quicker, that also works on high quality marine brass

Thank you! I have to age a shiny brass lion's head to match the aged looking breastplate that my husband will be wearing as a minotaur for upcoming Narnia themed prom. Fingers crossed this works!

Thank you for this video 🌹.. does it work on zinc alloy? I want my hardware to turn from bronze to dark grey

Very useful...thanks.

Great video...

Nice, and right to the point. The kind of instructions I like. Thanks!!!

Thank you..

Hi, just wanted to say thank you for your advice. I’m trying (being the operative word!) to create an apothecary cabinet from a second hand chest of drawers and the knobs I have are brand new. I’ve removed the lacquer with spray on paint stripper (I tried using acetone nail polish remover but it didn’t work) so I’ll give this a try. Thanks again.

good tutorial, but I'm confused. You say you don't submerge the piece in the solution, but you said you mix the salt and vinegar in the container with the piece in there. Am I missing something. I put a piece of brass in the container letting it sit in the solution and no change. Please explain because I need the aged look like you got with that buckle. :-)

Any idea how to do this with chrome?

Would this work for zippers? Or does it introduce a texture that would interfere with the zipper's function?

Has anyone ever tried this on a Henry rifle brass receiver, or any other lever action gun? Thanks

what next, aged paintings? vintage tools? Haha a new line!Going the other way I have an old 5 foot long saw in 10:1 water:molasses mix at the moment, to remove the rust in preparation for restoring at the bodgers ball!

Thank-you...

Im a detector lots of buckles N stuff

Would this work for a brass-plated item?

Will this work on bronze?

I’ve just put two door handles in takeaway boxes and wrapped in cling film with some white vinegar and salt. Let’s see what happens 😂

Would this work on an unlaquered saxophone

Is this safe for brass instruments

Does it matter whether to use white vinegar or apple cider vinegar? Thank you

Thanks heaps~~\!!

This man makes metal age like my girlfriend makes me age.

show us how to age leather :)

👍😉

1:22

Jolly good old boy pip pip and all that cheers mate

I've got aged brass down here Georgie

Ok .... Why would anyone give a thumbs down to the is and his method ...Oh I know why because they can ..Knobs 😂😂

Didn't work at all, not even on the thinnest of brass. Left overnight. No change.

www.sciencecompany.com list methods for practically every metal you could patinate based upon the color you wish to achieve. I love ammonium and salt for a deep turquoise on copper. Cheers!

Very useful, thank you!