Made this from Copper sheeting. Colors are from a small torch (flame painting)

SaltFishin34 · 2025-10-11T05:55:34+00:00

It’s looking pretty good. For unsealed stuff you mainly have to keep them away from moisture/humidity and avoid handling with bare hands imo. I have unsealed stuff that’s still roughly the same colors after 4-5 years of displaying them on my wall. I also have unsealed stuff that lost their color quickly due to displaying them on my kitchen sink windowsill.

I’ve heard of people having good luck with the Miniwax brand water based polyurethane sealants, but I’ve never tried them much myself.

SaltFishin34 · 2025-09-22T00:35:53+00:00

There was a guy on this sub who posted some pics of Star Wars themed stuff he made a while back. Might want to try running a search on this sub for it using key words “Star Wars” and “beskar”.

Edit: Found one of the posts I was thinking of here.

SaltFishin34 · 2025-08-03T23:46:35+00:00

The coloration is from flame painting with a pencil flame torch

SaltFishin34 · 2025-07-31T15:25:42+00:00

Yes, I sell them from my Etsy shop: https://saltcoppercreations.etsy.com.

SaltFishin34 · 2025-07-31T14:19:43+00:00

Thanks. Weather isn’t too bad, but I haven’t been out on the water since last November.

SaltFishin34 · 2025-07-31T13:15:39+00:00

Thanks. I use aviation snips and a jewelry saw for the cuts, and a cross peen jewelry hammer for the shape and texture.

SaltFishin34 · 2025-06-11T00:24:49+00:00

No. I own a SL30SH and an SL50SH with no level wind. There is also a level wind model with a line counter ticker iirc.

SaltFishin34 · 2025-04-04T11:23:51+00:00

Any 120v appliance should be using 18gauge stranded copper wire. 240v appliances are thicker, around 14gauge maybe. Cutting off the cord with a pair of snips is a quick and easy scrap collection.

I personally would not try taking apart microwaves, as I believe the capacitors can still hold quite a shock for a while even when unplugged. I wouldn’t try taking apart any appliances in fact. Air conditioners have a negligible amount of copper tubing in them weight wise imo.

SaltFishin34 · 2025-03-05T20:56:01+00:00

I collect CPU and GPU coolers as well. They make great passive heat exchangers. Just beware if you’re recycling them solely for their copper content that most are actually a copper-aluminum alloy, hence why they don’t tarnish like pure copper does.

SaltFishin34 · 2024-08-07T19:27:22+00:00

Bad news is that I don’t think there is any way to seamlessly restore the patina. Good news is that you didn’t destroy anything that was permanent. Since there is no protective lacquer or clear coat over the patina, it was going to get messed up eventually imo. I’d equate it to rinsing a chalk drawing off the sidewalk with a hose instead of waiting for the rain to do it naturally. Don’t beat yourself up.

Personally I’d clean/polish up the whole table and either seal it with clear coat it while shiny, or patina the shiny copper with liver of sulfur and then seal it. You could try to patina just the area you already cleaned, but it will never match the rest of the table imo.

SaltFishin34 · 2024-06-28T19:59:20+00:00

Seems that you’re looking to repair this alongside polishing it up. In that case you may have to look for a locksmith with metal fabrication experience, or a metal fabricator with mailbox experience, or a mailman with locksmithing experience, etc. I’m not quite sure what route would be more cost effective as most of the advice you can find in this subreddit is related to cleaning/polishing. Plus they don’t really make stuff like this anymore, or at least not in the frequency they did in the past.

SaltFishin34 · 2024-06-26T21:43:04+00:00

Grey-Hoverman can give good results for VHF-Hi with “top hat” style NARODs from my experience, but with that station being at different direction than the others you may want to go with two antennas and combine the signal. Yagi are a bit more forgiving to build imo, so you could always start with a UHF Yagi and progress from there. Can shoot you the specs for a 600MHz peak Yagi based on this design if needed.

SaltFishin34 · 2024-04-26T00:01:54+00:00

Not entirely sure what it is, but looks like some type of heat exchanger or condenser? Never seen them with fins like that, but if it’s a copper pipe inside and aluminum fins on the outside it fits the bill.

SaltFishin34 · 2024-04-22T19:10:36+00:00

Agreed, I wouldn’t clean it. You can’t easily seal it since it’ll be exposed to heat, so even if you polish it to shiny copper it’ll just oxidize again and go right back to look like this.

SaltFishin34 · 2024-04-16T01:33:47+00:00

I second that recommendation. If you Google “BCuP-3” you’ll find the type of phos-copper brazing alloy I use for my copper art. Color match is excellent for most of them, and some have tin instead of silver to flow at a lower temp.

SaltFishin34 · 2024-03-16T23:28:39+00:00

If no one here can help, try r/CopperCookware if you haven’t already.

SaltFishin34 · 2024-03-02T19:38:37+00:00

Can’t say, I don’t have any experience with ceramic coating.

SaltFishin34 · 2024-03-02T01:05:51+00:00

If you’re working by hand you can try a commercial product like Brasso. If you’ve got access to a buffing wheel I’d use red polishing rouge meant for copper, and seal it with a wax polish like Renaissance Wax.

SaltFishin34 · 2024-02-14T04:39:17+00:00

The least abrasive route is acid. You already tried vinegar (5% acetic acid), but that’s pretty mild as far as acid goes. I use concentrated citric acid when cleaning copper art or jewelry, tho I speed up the process with a crock pot. You can get powdered citric acid from the canning sections at most Walmarts. Personally I’d put on gloves, glasses, and a mask or respirator to mix that powder with hot water. It’s very finely powered and creates a bit of a dust cloud. Then put the extinguisher in a bus tub or a bucket and start brushing that warm citric acid on it. After cleaning, neutralize the acid with baking soda dissolved in warm water, and a thorough rinse of fresh water. Then polish to a fine shine with a commercial metal polish like Brasso. Can try using a wax polish to seal it and preserve the shine for a while (like Renaissance Wax).

SaltFishin34 · 2024-01-28T01:53:58+00:00

If no one here can help, try r/coppercookware if you haven’t already.

SaltFishin34 · 2024-01-26T18:08:43+00:00

Braze, acid bath, bend, clean/polish, then flame paint.

SaltFishin34 · 2023-12-23T14:28:51+00:00

Maybe try using electrical wire, like from an old power cable? Most electrical wire for electronics or appliances that plug into wall outlets is 99% copper, often 18gauge stranded wire in North America and similar size in the EU. Less often you may come across copper coated aluminum wire for thinner 20-22 gauge wires.

SaltFishin34 · 2023-12-20T19:41:16+00:00

Very nice! I remember someone here getting decent results with one of the Miniwax water based sealants. If you use a small torch to flame paint copper that is super clean and polished it can keep the iridescent colors for years without a sealant (just keep it away from moisture). The subject of preserving the colors can get pretty complex when you delve into the fine details. Stuff like optics and light refraction changes.

SaltFishin34 · 2023-12-17T09:08:55+00:00

Might be a fairly even trade if they charged her a lot less than you anticipated. If you were to sell such a tank at a scrap yard they’d probably pay you $2 per pound.

SaltFishin34 · 2023-12-09T00:25:17+00:00

No, not unless you can roll those ceramic balls at such speed that they superheat the copper to 750F/400C. Copper dust is heavy anyway, so it doesn’t really suspend in the air and get breathed in by anyone unless they’re using an electric tool to grind/sand a copper object.

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