Bar Keepers Friend

[Tubajug]

Hello!

Has anyone had any experience using Bar Keepers Friend cleaner for raw brass? On the label it says it's good for cleaning and polishing brass. I'm just curious to hear your thoughts!

Thanks!

[the elephant]

It is an acidic, abrasive powder or "liquid" gel/paste/goo that works really well on cleaning out nasty tubing after lapping or to remove pink heat blooming. It is decent are removing calcified crap and gree crap. It VERY CLEARLY differentiates lead (solder) from silver on a tube surface as they turn different colors.

However, you *must* clean the residue off with a chemical degreaser like mineral spirits. Purple Power and Simple Green will NOT fully remove it from the pores of the metal. If you do not do this you will have a very hard time soldering. Also, the residue is mildly toxic. When you clean pots and pans or the sink with this stuff you must then wash it again with soap and water, which makes it safe enough to lick. (Mmmmm, tasty sink drain…) But having brass that is "safe enough to lick" and "clean enough to flux and then solder with success" are two very different things.

I used Bar Keepers Friend extensively for four or five years (probably 300 containers of the stuff) and finally gave up stopped altogether. I get just about the same results using "food grade" (meaning a very weak) white vinegar from Walmart. Vinegar requires no special considerations before or after use. It just takes longer to clean, and it is not as thorough at cleaning.

To my way of thinking, vinegar is akin to muriatic acid, which removes foreign matter from the metal, and BKF is more like chromic acid/Brite Dip in that it makes the metal more even looking. They both clean, but do so in different ways. Vinegar does not do much to make the brass look nice. BKF will eat off just about anything and make it look beautiful, but again, you MUST clean up afterward to your satisfaction. I might approach soldering incorrectly and had issues with BKF due to my own actions. You *might* have zero issues with simple soap-and-water washing. After hand scrubbing tubes with the stuff and then a sink washing I could not get the solder to flow predictably, and even with a lot of flux, the joints acted as though they were filled with grease or other gunk. Again, YMMV.

***IF*** you are willing to go through the degreasing process it is an excellent way to clean up ugly brass. It is excessive as a polish or "wash" and if you do not degrease because you are not planning to solder, that residue will get on your skin and make you sick if you ingest it. It is not life-threatening, but you will not be pleased at all if you ingest it. It is an excellent product to have around the house, and for *occasional* use on bare brass tubing.

[Tubajug]

Great info! Thank you. I'm mostly thinking of using it to clean up the outside (bell, bows, etc) of my Franken Eb. I would still want to degrease afterwards?

[the elephant]

I would degrease it, then a sudsy soap-and-water wash with a thorough rinse.

[Ace]

I would degrease it, then a sudsy soap-and-water wash with a thorough rinse.

Would DAWN detergent degrease adequately and serve as a sudsy soap and water rinse at the same time?

Ace

[the elephant]

"Dawn takes grease out of your way."

Dawn is what I like to use.

[It is what is used to help save the lives of oil-soaked sea birds and other coastal critters after an oil spill devastates a shoreline ecosystem.]

[Casca Grossa]

***IF*** you are willing to go through the degreasing process it is an excellent way to clean up ugly brass. It is excessive as a polish or "wash" and if you do not degrease because you are not planning to solder, that residue will get on your skin and make you sick if you ingest it. It is not life-threatening, but you will not be pleased at all if you ingest it. It is an excellent product to have around the house, and for *occasional* use on bare brass tubing.

Sorry Wade but I had to chuckle at your warning. Do you speak from experience on this?

[the elephant]

Perhaps.