Sealing/protecting Copper and Brass

[Beverley Pearson-Hancock]

Hi, I use a renaissance wax to protect my copper and brass pendents but looking for something a bit more wearing as I am wanting to make some dog tags. Can anyone recommended a lacquer of some sort? Thank you.

[Lucie]

You'll need to be a bit careful spraying things with lacquer. A few years back, I made the mistake of spraying a load of sculptures (bronze; brass; copper).
They were all beautiful and shiny - they then dulled down under the laquer and couldn't be polished anymore :(
I ended up painstakingly striping it all off with thinners.
I still use lacquer for a few things. After testing quite a few, I now stick with Halfords own spray version as it has a nice finish & is really hard wearing. x

[Dennis]

As Lucie discovered at her cost, some laquers destroy the natural sheen of metals, so they look worse than before. For Dog tags, laquer would wear quite rapidly. You could use aluminium or stainless steel, or if using silver, blacken it and wax it for a non-maintenance product. Dennis.

[Beverley Pearson-Hancock]

Lucie, I take it the lacquer from halfords is for alloy wheels or bodywork?
Dennis, I'm planning to use a few metals like aluiminim, copper, brass and maybe a little silver.

[ps_bond]

FWIW, I've used Ercalene on copper before now. I don't know how wear resistant it is, but the engravings I've used it on are as bright & clean as they were when they were lacquered.

[Lucie]

Halfords lacquer is designed to protect paintwork or metal in tough conditions (their description). Just type "Lacquer" into the search on their site.
Pop your item on some old newspaper and coat thinly; allow to dry and re-spray. Don't over spray, or you'll stick your item to the paper & the lacquer will run.

My problem was that shiny metal pieces looked beautiful when first sprayed, but dulled down underneath the lacquer over time, leaving me with dull sculptures that couldn't be re-polished.
I've unfortunately tried to lacquer all of the metals mentioned above with the same result. I found it only really works with Iron.
I agree with Dennis & now tend to wax my pieces. x

[Beverley Pearson-Hancock]

Ive serched and found everbrite make a protective coating for jewellery. May give it a try. I'm only coating dog tags so if its no good its not too bad. I'll get my dog to wear one for a while.
http://everbritecoatings.co.uk/small-60ml-flask-of-protectaclear-coating-151-p.asp

[Truffle & Podge]

Ive serched and found everbrite make a protective coating for jewellery. May give it a try. I'm only coating dog tags so if its no good its not too bad. I'll get my dog to wear one for a while.
http://everbritecoatings.co.uk/small-60ml-flask-of-protectaclear-coating-151-p.asp

Was going to suggest everbrite when i got a chance to log on, i bought some and its looking good so far :D