Spent the last few weeks shopping out my TAFG. Almost finished, however I have one last hurdle. The solid brass lockbar needs to be refinished. The clearcoat where you rest the palms of your hands on the lockbar is worn right down to the bare brass. Therefore I need to strip the rest of the clearcoat and refinish the lockbar. Any suggestions on how to strip the old clearcoat without scratching the brass? Any suggestions on what material (lacquer?) to spray to refinish on the solid brass lockbar?

Thanks in advance.  

On brass they normally lacquer them after buffing because it oxidizes right away with handling.

You might want to give this guy a try. I used him for years to do refinishing. He will strip, polish and lacquer it. He did my bell on Fire! for me if you remember how it came out. He's done a lot of intricate hardware for me in the past. It always turned out well as long as it was solid brass.



He's not the cheapest guy I'm sure but his work is excellent. You sure it's solid brass and not a plating? You might want to question him about it before you buff through the finish if it's not solid.

Brass Works       (416) 736-1609
1165 Petrolia Rd North York ON

Yes that it is the issue. I polish it and it oxidizes shortly after. i checked again this morning and Yes it is solid brass.

Thanks for the reference, I will give him a call.

I am guessing it's going to be $60 to $80 for him to do it from my experience. IMHO well worth the cost since this is really one of the most stikingly obvious pieces on the machine and will really set it off, that and the fact your dealing with a game now worth uber $$'s.

I am no expert, this is just gleaned from a quick look on the net.

"If the metal is magnetic it is probably plated brass on steel; if it is non-magnetic it is probably solid brass."

You can try Laquer thinner or acetone to take off laquer finish, then polish, then solvent to remove any grease, and then clear coat with acrylic lacquer (but for a hard wearing area a baked on laquer or two part clear may be more appropriate). However many newer metal clear finishes are Urethane based resins that are baked on and react differently to different solvents.

For the future reference of a brave DIY'r : http://www.finishing.com/86/42.shtml http://www.finishing.com is a wealth of information on finishing techniques and Q&A

or : http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Brass

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Had some acetone and tried it quickly tonight to see if it would remove the the old coating. Came right off with out much effort, no wonder normal hand sweat removed it in the first place. Now to refinish it.