I like to hide in my engine room and clea, detail and paint. I noticed my strainer assemblies are looking pretty old and nasty. The casting is a rough surface. Any magical way of cleaning them up?
I used to apply ON/OFF Gell with a chipping brush to all that brass and bronze, in and out,, AND run like heck. The fumes will affect you. An hour or more later, wash off with water. With water, scrub all clean with a toilette brush. When dry, do it again. The bronze will turn yellow/gold. Seems to build it's own skin and look good for a long time.
Make a paste with vinegar, salt, and flour. Apply it to the bronze strainer with a brush and let sit overnight. Clean with a wire brush and freshwater, coat with Corrosion X. Spray Corrosion X on it occasionally and you will not have to clean it again. Never have liked that patina green bronze appearance, even though it usually is not a problem.
Anything vinegar based will do it too, from a spray bottle or even ketchup, jk on the ketchup, but it would work too. And good old fashioned TarnX. https://clrbrands.com/Products/CLR-Household/Tarn-X-Tarnish-Remover
Bronze is an excellent metal that may be polished to be super shiny, resembling brass. These parts were abrasively polished, using woven pad wheels and discs using either a straight air grinder or a right angle air grinder. On my boat I kept some parts bare and highly polished. Other parts were painted with Pettit 6455/044 Metal Primer, then Interlux 2000E Barrier Coat Primer, then Rustoleum Professional High Performance Aerosol Spray Paint. The painted parts have retained a glossy plastic appearance for well over a decade.
When my father-in-law was in the Navy he was assigned the duty to care for the brass. He painted it gray. Wasn't appreciated. lol. On a serious note, when cleaning up these strainers be careful not to damage seals.
Just a heads up. This is a very dangerous and unhealthy practice. You need to get out of that engine room as quickly as possible. And get into mine.
That reminds me of a unfortunate incident a few years ago in the Palm Beach area. A mate or skipper was detailing his engine room with Brakleen. Viking SF. The highly flammable variety that caused quite the explosion. He was hurt and the boat was heavily damaged.
Viking Yacht Explodes March 06, 2013 10:01AM News Wire An explosion in the engine room of a 65-foot Viking put one man in the hospital with extensive burns and left the sportfishing yacht with major structural damage. Early reports claim the explosion occurred when the 32-year-old captain used a combustible cleaning product in the engine room. The cleaner ignited after coming in contact with a spark, creating the explosion. The blast blew out all of the windows on the boat and left a giant hole in the side of the hull. The fiberglass split to the water line and the first floor of the vessel was pushed up into the second floor, according to Pompano Beach Fire Rescue. The boat was docked near Hillsborough Inlet, Florida when the blast went off on Tuesday, March 5th. The captain was brought to Broward Health North and then Jackson Memorial for treatment.