Port hole cleaner

I am busily cleaning the boat today - a multi day job... I was cleaning windows on the outside and I glanced at my portholes... THe bronze has taken a deep chocolate color... I thought about the time and effort needed to polish and wax them... Chocolate looks good to me...
 
I received the Twinkle last Friday I ordered from http://www.malcopro.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=61&Itemid=736. I waited for the snow to go away before I tried it out. Today, I took the window off one of my portholes and brought it inside to try out the Twinkle.

Twinkle comes in what they call a "kit". The "kit" consists of a plastic container about the size of a large container of shoe polish. It opens similar to a can of shoe polish and you will find a sponge applicator and a paste. I followed the instructions:
1. Rinse with hot water.
2. Apply Twinkle with the sponge or cloth.
3. Rinse with hot water.
4. Wipe dry with clean cloth.

The areas on the windows with light corrosion polished up very easily, and I believe easier and faster than Brasso would have. The areas with heavy corrosion required repeated application, and I believe Twinkle was easier than using Brasso or a buffing wheel.

Conclusion: I am keeping my Twinkle. Can't wait for it to warm up a bit to get the rest of the portholes.

Buying Twinkle from the factory is cheaper, when you figure in shipping, than buying it from another source, but you have to buy 6 or 12 at a time - a lifetime supply!!! I would recommend several TugNuts that live close together, to go in together and buy a bunch. Myself, I will have some Twinkle available for sale, at cost, at the rendezvous in June in Connecticut.
 
Twinkle is a standard stock item at Home Hardware in Canada and yes it works on tarnished port holes.
 
Rick, glad you found Twinkle to be as easy to use as I had suggested. I " found " the product about 1977 and in the mid 80's it was off the market in Australia. I used it at the time to restore old brass ware as no scrubbing with steel wool or any real abrasives that would scratch and Twinkle worked extremely well. You will need to find a sealer to apply after you have cleaned the port holes or expect to clean them every 2 to 3 months. Two sealers I have used is " Increlac "or "Shellac " Increlac in a spray and lasts a couple of years before you will need to get the Increlac off and clean the portholes again. Increlac is difficult to remove where as Shellac comes as a flake which is disolves in metholated spirits and then applied with a small paint brush. Not as good as Increlac but when it comes to removing you just clean off with metholated spirits.
On a different note 3 people have drowned today in the terrible floods at a place called Toowoomba which is in our neck of the woods. Not close to be scary but close enough. We had 2 inches of rain yesterday and about the same today and if the rain continues we will be cut off from getting to town. No real drama about not getting to town except I volunteer for two organisations which I would be letting down if I cant get there. One of the organisations is the Volunteer Coast Guard and the other is the Salvation Army. Will just have to see if the rain keeps falling

Garry
 
After many weekly porthole cleanings and using different cleaners, Eagle One "original formula NEVER-DULL worked far better than Brasso/Noxon/3M Cleaner wax. Flitz worked well at bringing the shine to the porthole after I cleaned off the residue from the NEVER-DULL. After cleaning off all wax residue I taped off one porthole so far and sprayed a rust-oleum crystal clear enamel. I will see how that holds up against the Florida sun and salt spray. I like the look of the Portholes but they are a pain in the _ _ _! The Never-Dull was purchased at an Automotive store, Advance auto parts I believe, I purchased it 2 years ago. Have used it for many years on every other metal. Mike
 
How about the natural way!

More Natural Ways to Clean Brass

Who knew cleaning brass could be so easy? There are just so many ways to do it safely and naturally without the use of scary chemicals that oftentimes strip away the top layer of metal. That stripping can eventually cause the intricacies of your brass to lose definition. The method outlined above is just my own personal preference. If you are curious about other methods, just have a look down here. The secret ingredient to all of these household brass cleaners is a weak acid with a pH somewhere in the area of 3 to 4. For all of these methods, rinse well and buff with a soft clean cloth or micro fiber cloth.

Ketchup! Yeah, baby. I'm talkin' about good ol' Sauce Americana. Sounds too good to be true, you say? Oh, yeah. I know. But really, just smear some ketchup all over your dirty brass, let it sit for a few minutes, and wash it off.

Worcestershire sauce. It just keeps getting better. Same as with the ketchup: wipe it on, let the acidity of the stuff work its magic, wash it off, and voila! Clean brass. Just be sure to rinse it off really well. It might take a couple of tries.

White vinegar and salt. Is there nothing vinegar can't do? Pour vinegar over your brass and then sprinkle it with salt. It's supposed to work great. Vinegar can also be used at full strength. Wet a soft cloth with it and wipe down the brass.

Yogurt. The lactic acid does the trick. Use a spatula to coat your brass in yogurt. Let it sit long enough for the yogurt to dry, and then buff it off with a soft dry cloth. Rinse the heck out of it. Turns out dairy products stink when they sit out too long.

Milk and water. Speaking of lactic acid, you can simmer your tarnished brass in a 50/50 solution of milk and water. Simmering times will vary depending on the extent of tarnish. Again, make sure to rinse it off really well, as rotten milk stinks.

More lemons (or limes). If the piece of brass being polished is not very intricate, it works well to simply cut a lemon or lime in half, sprinkle some salt or baking soda on the sliced end, and rub the brass with it. You may need to reapply the salt/soda. Rub with the grain of the metal.
 
Interesting info on the natural methods. Might try the lemon trick. Mike
 
During the last 4 decades of her life, momma kept just one cleaner under the sink - white vinegar - and her house shined...
 
All brass era antique car owners (I am one)and carriage owners have had to deal with tarnished brass. The following are gleanings from the Modet T Ford Club of America forum postings.You can go to their site and do a search for-- brass polishing-- without being a member. Here comes the VooDoo part --Removal of heavy tarnish -1. Toilet bowl cleaner (the Works from Walmart seems to be preferred) apply with a rag,rinse thoroughly, then polish -2. White Vinegar (any kind works) -3. Ketchup works (messy) -4. Lemon juice works. They cut thru the the heavy tarnish thus reducing the the amount of elbow grease needed. All need to be rinsed and followed by some type of polish. Brasso,Kaboom, Flitz, Maas seem to be the favorites. Search the form and then read what the experts had tried and what their outcome was. Cheers Red Baron
 
I found a Lacquer for Brass from Mokawk..This stuff is a sealer for a new/clean brass porthole. Anybody use this or a similar product.? It sounds like a rather permanent solution..in other words messy to get off if it doesn't work. Anybody have any input?
 
I discovered accidentally that naval jelly sprayed on to a rag and wiped on to the port hole is by far the fastest way to restore the shine to my porthole. I rinse it with water and put flitz on after and within 5 minutes or less your done. Mike
 
What Flitz product did you use and where did you get it? It appears Flitz makes several products.
 
On Dec 21 2010 I posted a reply on this subject which endorsed Semichrome Polish. I've seen plenty of great sugestions since but no mention of anyone having an opinion of the product. Just wondering, both positive or negitive, if anyone tried the product and what results they had!
 
Maintaining nice looking brass portholes is a subject that seems to have vexed a lot of tug owners. The reason is that the focus is always on how to clean them. There are several products on the market that will do the job (Brasso is probably the best known) if you have the patience and elbow grease to remove all the corrosion.
The secret is what you do to maintain the nice appearance after you have cleaned the brass. If you do nothing and you are in a salt water environment your portholes will quickly deterioate to the sorry state they were in before you cleaned them. The answer is, carefully mask the area around the porthole and the glass itself and spray your porthole with clear lacquer. I guarantee you you will be delighted with the results. And, there is no charge for this advice.

Hal Teasdale
Master & Commander
Tug-a-Bear
(I have my wife's permission to use this title!)
 
I have posted on this subject. All of the products work well. What I wanted to ask was masking the portholes. Do you use masking tape or a cardboard cut out? I hate getting that black stuff on the white fiberglass. 🙁
 
You can use blue masking tape. Does not leave a residue.
 
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