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What's your post-polish routine? Either silver or raw brass. Do you degrease (for lack of a better term?) after you polish to remove any residue? If so, what do you prefer to use? Mineral spirits followed by a soap and water bath? Nothing at all?

The only raw brass tuba that I’ve ever had is the Holton that I just built, and - so far (??) - I’m just letting it turn dark brown.
My silver tubas have all been satin silver, and I used a watery chemical (sulfur-smelling) oxidation dissolver on them - applied with a sponge, while wearing rubber gloves. I just rinsed it off - after I dissolved all the black tarnish - and patted them dry with a towel.
The last time I cleaned off the known-to-many Buescher C helicon was just before I was in that silly Hallmark movie, and then - once the filming was done – shipped it off to its new owner. (I actually recorded the music soundtracks - that we pantomimed on the riverboat - with my Besson E-flat tuba, but knew that the helicon would photograph well.)
When I own silver tubas, I’m not particularly faithful about keeping them shiny, and they spend a lot of time being brown or black.
I’m a huge fan of epoxy lacquer, but a satin finish is the best way to hide nicks and scratches in the surfaces of restored instruments, rather than buffing the crap out of them.

Been wondering a little about that myself... On my Conn Eb, I used Tarn-X to get rid of most of the black. That seems like pretty nasty stuff, so I tried to not let things soak longer than they needed to. Followed by silver cream, them a few rounds of old T shirts. I don't plan to polish it much, but it did need a good 100+ year reset. Someone else can do the next one of those.

After that... Not much. Just a little wipe down after I'm done with the horn. Water spots bother me more than normal amounts of non-shiny and tarnish.

I am NOT the person who constantly polishes things and definitely not the white-gloves person either. Tubas are pretty and should.look pretty... But they are also tools and should be used, and used to the point of getting worn out.

I don't think I told you anything helpful!

sidebar:

Patination coats brass as effectively as do other coatings.

I thought this thread was going to be a thread about WW2...but it's about PAUL-ishing tubas.

bloke wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 9:38 pm
When I own silver tubas, I’m not particularly faithful about keeping them shiny, and they spend a lot of time being brown or black.

I have a satin silver tuba that looks like it went swimming in coffee. Gulf coast humidity SUCKS!

I have some liquid stuff I can spray on and rinse off, but I don't want to do it too often so as to start affecting the silver itself.

I hear stuff about gas heat, but surely (if a valid observation) that only has to do with those unventilated types of wall and space heaters, and not HVAC ventilated.