What is mirror polish brass and Why Do We Use Them?

Welcome to Matt’s Metalworking, in this tutorial I will be showing you a beginner’s guide on how to polish brass with a mirror finish by hand. I’m just using a piece of raw brass, so you can see it’s quite rough and it’ll definitely be more work intensive than compared to a machined piece or something that is already finished just needing to be refinished.

SUNSONG Product Page

Required Tools

• bucket with water
• backing pad
• clean soft cloth

Required Materials

• 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper
• grit wet/dry sandpaper
• grit wet/dry sandpaper
• grit wet/dry sandpaper
• alloy polish

Depending on the surface’s damage, this will depend on what grit of sandpaper is required. For this I am starting out with 600 grit sandpaper, this needs to be a wet/dry compatible paper. The sandpaper needs to be pre-soaked before we start the sanding process. I have a bucket of water beside me, if you wish you can mix in soap to help with lubrication that can allow for a finer finish. For this tutorial, I’m just using straight water.

The heavier surface damage, the lower the grit is required. However when you go to a lower grit, this also means more material will be removed, and as you increase to a higher grit, slightly more work is required to remove those heavier grit scratches. When starting out with that first grit of sandpaper, most of those surface imperfections should be removed. This is basically the rough in step. Rinse off the surface to remove any access sanding material and always keep the sand paper well lubricated.

Moving up to grit wet/dry sandpaper. The reason I am wet sanding is so that the dust is kept down and we can achieve a finer finish. The black backing pad I have keeps even pressure on the surface with minimal distortion as what you may find when only using your fingers. For irregular shaped surfaces, you maybe able to use a foam backer instead.

For an addition example using an abrasive pad. Just like sandpaper, these too are available in various grits and is typically distinguishable by the color of pad. The maroon pad is listed at about 320 to 400 grit. These can be used with water as well which I am doing here. These pads are great for irregular shaped objects, but they don’t necessarily remove surface imperfections. Instead they smoothen or round off those imperfections. Sandpaper with a backer on the other hand can promote more of a smooth surface.

Moving up to a finer grit, this pad is green and rated at about 600 grit. Always keep the area well lubricated and rinse away excessive material. I’ll be stopping here to demonstrate what happens when you don’t use a fine enough grit before moving onto a polishing compound.

The company is the world’s best mirror polish brass supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.

This illustration helps explain the difference between using sandpaper and abrasive pads. Starting out with the existing surface and surface imperfections, each has high and low spot. With the sandpaper and a backing pad at the top, this removes all material evenly and also takes down the high spots from cratering marks. If you want those deeper marks to be completely gone, more surface material needs to be removed unfortunately. So this can result in more work, thinner surface, and changed dimensions.

Using abrasive pads, these may leave the surface uneven and won’t remove surface imperfections complexly. Instead it’ll round off those marks and cratering. Which methods you go with is really your personal preference and what type of shine you want to achieve.

Now moving onto the polishing stage. You can use a polishing compound such as what is used on automative paint or a metal or alloy specific polish. Here I am using an aluminum wheel polish.

I typically start out with soft paper towel first as metal polishing can make clothes quite dirty and hard to clean afterwards. Paper towel can be easily thrown away and we can finish with with a soft cloth at the end. Apply the polish to the cloth and work it into the surface. I will be polishing both the areas I used sandpaper and then the abrasive pads.

Work the polish into the surface, apply more polish when needed, and wipe away if the old polish gets too excessive. The polish will turn black which is perfectly normal as it’s removing a very light amount of material.

Once the surface is almost finished, finish up with a light amount of polish and a soft cloth.

And this is what we’re finally left with. You may see some mild scratching, therefore more polishing would be needed. There is still some surface imperfection, but they are much less than compared to what we started with. Finishing up with the 600 grit abrasive pad, while it’s still somewhat shiny, it doesn’t have the clarity than compared to using a finer grit. You can also see the existing raw finish before we started on other parts of the brass bar.

If you enjoyed this tutorial, please considering subscribing to my YouTube channel as well as subscribing to my Instructables profile.

For more information, please visit bead blasted aluminum.

I always wanted to get that mirror finish when I see those pretty pictures of straight razors. I decided to get a "known" product, Brasso! Brasso is supposed to be a good metal finish/polisher, perfect to make a straight razor look good! I think it's not recommended on Gold etching, as usual...

Like a kid on Christmas morning, I decided to use it on a straight that I restored but isn't mirror shiny. I tried the product and I was expecting a miracle. As you might suspect, the miracle didn't happen. This is when I read the instructions ( )...

Brasso is the easy and effective way to clean, restore and polish Brass, Copper, Pewter, Chrome, Stainless Steel, Steel and Zinc to an instant sparkling shine.

Directions for use: DO NOT SWALLOW. SHAKE WELL. Apply with a soft cloth. Polish off with a dry soft cloth before polish has completely dried.

What's wrong with that picture? "Instant sparkling shine."

So here I am in the bathroom, I tried to pour the product in a small bowl and soak the straight in, took it out, same. I tried rubbing the product in like there's no tomorrow, didn't change much... So, half the bottle is missing, I decided to Google how would I use Brasso. Strangely, no pictures, only a few lines on other forums on how to use the product...

I need pictures to understand!

So here we go. Do I know how to use the product properly? Maybe not but this is what I understood while looking at different websites. There might be a better method but this one works for me. Well, better than my first try...

What do we need?

• Brasso
• Clothe (I used a square from an old shirt, you see that I won't win any prizes with scissors...)
• Something to work on (I used a piece of paper)
• A straight that needs to be polished
• OPTIONAL - Gloves (I don't like to touch chemicals too much or wash my hands to get the scent of the product out...)

View attachment

The first step is to shake the bottle of Brasso well!

You then need a tiny quantity of Brasso on the clothe.

With a very light pressure, rub it on the surface to polish. Be careful, you don't need much product, unlike this picture. Keep in mind that cracks are very difficult to clean if the product falls into them.
View attachment

Rub the product gently for as long as you want, it will create a white chalk type residue.
View attachment

I usually leave it alone for a few minutes when I get the white chalk, I then take a dry clothe and proceed to polish with very light pressure again, going in circles.
View attachment

Eventually, you will be done and won't be able to look into it because it's so shiny outside and the metal is blinding you!
View attachment I'm an amateur jeweler, specializing in chainmaille jewelry. I deal with rings ranging from mild steel and stainless steel to niobium and gold. I use the same polishing routine for all of them (before they're bent in to ring form, of course), and it works without fail.

Step 1: Eagle Chrome Nanopolish with a microfiber cloth. Light, long strokes in a monodirectional pattern

Step 2: Rouge on a linen buffing pad, backed up by a dremel tool. RPM, moving along the surface at about 2 cm per second

Step 3: Mix 2 tablespoons of borax with a half cup of water. Stir until the solution is saturated. Scoop up some of the fine, undissolved granules using a microfiber cloth, and use quick oscillating motions to polish the surface with them. Finish up by rinsing it with the borax-water solution. Rinse with water.

Step 4: Coat with a very, VERY fine layer of crisco. Hit it with canned air, turned upside down. This will freeze the crisco. Simply wipe the frozen crisco off the surface and polish smooth with a microfiber cloth. No synthetic, though. Use a natural microfiber cloth throughout this process.