How To Clean Brass with Ketchup

In this video I show you how I clean up some old hardware that I got from a project that I am working on. I initially thought that these were Brass but after cleaning them up with the ketchup I realized that they were not Brass. After doing some research I have come to the conclusion that they are Silicon Bronze. The two are similar in that they include Copper in their chemical make up but Silicon Bronze has a high content of Copper which gives it the appearance of Copper over normal Brass. This method of cleaning works for both Brass and Silicon Bronze but the time required to soak will vary depending on the level of dirt and patina on the particular item.

This hardware is the original hardware from the project that I am working on and I was pleased to see that it was not corroded after the many years of use. These Machine Screws and Nuts are probably 20-30 years old. I had one Nut missing and when I was trying the find a replacement I could not even find the correct size in a normal store and it had to be custom ordered. There are metric and all of the new Brass and Bronze hardware is made only in standard sizes.