Changing color of brass to make more gold / yellow

[DaveM]

Has anyone had success in adjusting the tint of brass to make it more golden in color?  Not aging, more of adjusting the yellowness of it.

[smallpatch]

Different formulations of brass, are different colors.  I think it's based on the amount of copper?
Don't know how you'd change it aft the fact.

[Carl Young]

It can be done by guilding:



Carl

[JPK]

From the Machinery's Handbook 12th edition.
Clean the grease off well then wash the piece in a bath of one part carbonate of soda or potash to ten parts water. after boiling wash in clean water. Do not touch the surfaces with fingers, but handle by wire or tongs.
For rich gold color boil in a solution composed of 2 parts by weight of saltpeter, 1part common salt, 1part alum, 24 parts water and 1 part hydrochloric acid. wash and dry.

[jerrywh]

There is a brass called engravers or jeweler's  brass. It is much more gold in color than regular brass. Most of the brass that is used for long rife castings is 360 alloy. Look up jeweler's brass on the web it is a different alloy.
https://www.riogrande.com/product/jewelers-brass-6-x-12-sheet-dead-soft/130116gp
 As most of you know the gilding process is the old mercury process for gold plating and can still be done but it is highly dangerous. Electroplating has taken it's place. I have done a lot of electroplating with gold and silver but the equipment to do it is pretty expensive. and so are the solutions. Rio grande has all the info and the equipment to do so It will take at least $1000.00 to get set up maybe twice that.  However, if you plan to sell a gun for $35,000 or more it won't matter.

[DaveM]

JPK that is interesting.  Is this two different boiling approaches, or are all of the steps you describe part of a single process?  It is a bit unclear if you are describing a process with boiling once or twice

[jerrywh]

I suspect that JPK process works similar to the process of converting the surface of sterling to pure silver.  I suspect the process removes the zinc from the surface to some degree in order to convert the surface to a higher copper alloy.
  It is called depletion gilding.

[JPK]

That’s a direct quote from that old book. I take it as a step by step to clean,prep and color the brass. Boiling twice in the process. If you choose to try it I’d start with a test piece and if the results suit you do the piece you have in mind. We would all like to see the results.

[Waksupi]

I've put brass in tuperware with a small container of ammonia inside for fuming. It will give different colors according to the brass composition.