NO, no, I’m not that much of a masochist. I’m not planning on shinying up all the bronze hardware–that’s most definitely a fool’s errand. That said, it’s traditional that the ship’s bell be kept polished, and that, at least, I can do (until I get sick of it, I suppose) given that we are fortunate enough to have a proper bronze ship’s bell.
The bell was in the default state of marine bronze: that is, green. Verdigris is pretty damn tough stuff (kind of the point of using bronze in the first place), so trying to elbow grease it off is going to hurt. Fortunately, there’s a better way.
You can use pretty much any acid, I reckon, including ketchup, apparently. I used vinegar, with some salt and flour to make a thick paste. After about an hour with that concoction plastered all over it, the verdigris was gone, leaving the bell clean and yellow, albeit still in need of a shine.
A few minutes with a Brasso-anointed rag and the bell was as shiny as the day it was cast. Badabing, badaboom.
and when you have basked in the glory of that shiny bell, you should tackle the clock and barometer in the cabin. they could use a good polish …. but the ships bells clock in the bedroom (ooops, stateroom) should still be shiny bright. you are doing very nice work, by the by.
Yup, the bell clock lacquer is still in good shape. We’ll get to the insides in time, but we are restricting ourselves to the launch-critical jobs until we have her in the water and ready to go places. I only did the bell because I could do it at home while other things were going on.
Things are progressing, but she still doesn’t look much different from when she was in San Carlos.