Roman metal polish

[John M McDermott]

I am unsure this hasn't been mentioned before. An old navy man and I were discussing Roman things and he brought out an old blackened belt buckle and some Tabasco sauce. In seconds it was clean. I tried some Louisiana Hot Sauce on one of my brass helmets with the same result. No rubbing was required. The pettina is quite nice too. The active ingredients on the bottle are vinegar and pepper. Did the Romans have these? Forget Brasso or other metal polish. This stuff is better. It leaves no film and doesn't seem to affect other things around the brass. Do the Cajuns know something we don't? <p></p><i></i>

[scythius]

Vinegar is one of my favorite cleaners - I buy 3-4 gallons of vinegar at a time for various non-culinary purposes.<br>
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The peppers in most sauces are New World varieties, so wouldn't be appropriate (and better used on your food, in any case<br>
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<p>Scythius<br>
LEG IX HSPA - COH III EXPG - CEN I HIB<br>
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- FIDELITAS - - VIRTUS - - MAGNANIMITAS - </p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

That's'A'Spicy'A'Meatball'Ah<br>
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Interesting. Yeah Vinegar was a favored cleaner and disinfectant. Possibly used a combo of vinegar and some amount of pummice or sand or something gritty.... The Leg.IX guys make thier own pummice stuff<br>
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I've just been using 3-in-1 oil and elbow grease...But my brass helmet is starting to get dingy...So I might consider the vinegar option...Something to think about anyway....<br>
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recipe for spicy Aquincum Gallic I:<br>
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1 cup vinegar<br>
1 handful grit<br>
1 sheet papertowel or old clean rag, torn or folded<br>
1 Aquincum helmet<br>
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add ingredients together. Agitate vigoursly. Rinse and Repeat as nessesary. Goes good with casserole or fish sauce <p></p><i></i>

[Luca]

Years ago, I noticed in Maroc that people was using lemon to make brass shining.<br>
The acid inside the lemon is able also to remove the small oxide tha sometime appears on the brass.<br>
The technique is easy: take a lemon, cut it into two parts and pass it over the brass by pressing sometime a bit to sguish some tears of juice. And that's it.<br>
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I believe vinegar acts the same because it is acid, less than lemon. <p></p><i></i>