Replies

1. 
   Guest_ | Mar 24, 1999 06:13pm | #1

   *
   Justus,

   I don't know where you are located, so all I can tell you is that there are special copper treatments commercially available to do exactly what you indicate.

   Check out your local phone book under roofing, find the commercial guys in large cities. They will direct you to the supplier. I hope your copper is thick enough for treating.

1. 
   Guest_ | Mar 24, 1999 06:41pm | #2

   *Be more patient. Natural weathering of copper to green takes at least 7 years and could be more. If gets wiped down at all it may never turn green.

1. 
   Guest_ | Mar 24, 1999 08:08pm | #3

   *Justus:You don't have to wait years, find a thread in Fine Woodworking's BB Knots for copper patina.There is a company out here in Los Angeles that sells chemical treatments that can turn your copper into any one of a dozen shades of brown, orange and green in a matter or minutes, with the final patina developing in weeks. The company is Sur-Fine Chemical Co. (800) 282-3533. I think they even have a web site and their products are featured in the catlog Micro-Mark, which I also belive has a web site.Call them up, get a catalog, pick your patina with the homeowner, slap the stuff on, and you'll have a happy homeowner. Make sure you charge him for your brillance.I've used the stuff with great success, but here in Los Angeles, there is enough pollution to patina new copper in about 8 hours without any chemicals at all. You could just send the item to me, we'll dump it off along the side of a freway, and pick it up the next day, fully patina'ed. (Just kidding!)Muriatic Acid will strip whatever patina is on it now, and probably turn it into a soft brown over a week. From brown, it will go to various shades a green over the course of a year or two. If you use acid, dilute the stuff enormously, as the stuff smokes and is quite nasty to use.Good Luck, and I hope this helps.....

1. 
   Guest_ | Mar 25, 1999 03:07am | #4

   *I asked a local supplier about this regaurding gutters several years ago.They told me to pee on the copper and it would turn green pretty quickly! How bad does your customer want this color? Good Luck, Stephen

1. 
   Guest_ | Mar 25, 1999 06:51am | #5

   *Pickle juice.

2. 
   Guest_ | Mar 25, 1999 06:52am | #6

   *Hey, Joe. Was that the shortest post ever, or what?

2. 
   Jay_ | Mar 25, 1999 08:41am | #7

   *
   no

1. 
   Jay_ | Mar 25, 1999 08:45am | #8

   *I'm sorry, and i know you didn't ask me, but i couldn't resist. Acutaly, there is someone on the Fine Cooking discusion whos posts are fairly often just 2 letters (same 2 i used above)jay

3. 
   Guest_ | Mar 25, 1999 09:17am | #9

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   Knew someone who, with the ignorance of youth, took a job at Taco Bell. Got assigned to clean the copper pipes with steel wool. But he knew enough chemistry and had read the label on the taco sauce (vinegar) and used that instead as it is much quicker. The manager wasn't amused to see him stripping the metal bare with little packets of Taco Bell sauce in view of the customers. In other words: Pickle Juice. Then wipe with water to get the acid off if you don't want it green. Or leave it on if you do. I'd go with the suggested vendor if you have the time and inclination. But for a job-site fix, I've found soldering flux turns pipes green if I don't wipe it off.

1. 
   Guest_ | Mar 25, 1999 10:32am | #10

   *Horse urine is supposed to be an old standby. However, getting them up on the deck or roof and training them to apply it evenly is another matter...Copper naturally changes to dark brown, then greenish, then eventually a terquoise after many many years. The color "weathered copper" is generally thought to be a brownish color. If he wants a different patina, he should pay extra. Trust me, I'm an architect.

4. 
   Lisa | Mar 25, 1999 07:02pm | #11

   *
   O.

1. 
   Lisa | Mar 25, 1999 07:15pm | #12

   *More completely useless knowledge for you, and not even off the subject. Do you know why the Black Knight is always the bad guy? Because in the middle ages if you were in fealty (service) to a noble, you could afford to have your squires clean your armor. This means lots and lots and lots of scrubbing with sand (they would also put it in a barrel w/ sand and roll it around the castle for days). If you are on your own (a mercenary, say), you don't have time, money, or space to clean your armor. But to keep it from rusting away, you would put it into the coals of a fire and piss on it. This gives it a nice rich brown which will darken over time. Then they discovered if you use a bit of oil, you get a dark blue. Repeat until fully coated (and black).I have seen this theory tested and it works - NSTWW(no sh*t, there we were).Having fun with home chemistry,Lisa

5. 
   Guest_ | Apr 02, 1999 10:47am | #13

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   I went through this pondering once. When I asked my sheet metal guys, most said that copper downspouts always turned green where dogs pissed on them. I had a 5000sf house with copper gutters and downspouts to do and you can bet that I wasn't going to chase down a couple hundred dogs with a wet-vac to get enough juice to do the job. You could also bet that the client wouldn't care for kidney-cider all over his house. I even thought big house...big dog? How about a horse? Ever see how much they pump out of their fire-hose? I went to a local stable and they willingly gave me a couple of buckets of stall shavings. At the site I added water to the shavings in a 5gal bucket and let it set a couple of days. When applied to the copper, the elixer failed to do the job. I don't even want to bring back thoughts of the aroma!
   Attempt #3 worked. I wiped down the gutters with straight Muriatic acid. (The newer the copper the more diluted the solution can be.)
   I then took a spritzer bottle and filled it with straight Ammonia. (Not the sudsing type) By spritzing the Ammonia on I got a realistic blotchy pattern, even runs where I wanted them.
   If the weather and the copper are to hot the reaction may be too hot causing crystal scaling that will jump right off the metal. The coloring will be a bit more on the blue side at first but given a couple of months and the green will mellow out and the copper will look like its been there a couple of hundred years.
   NOTE: (1) Make sure that the proper respirator is used throught out the process. 3M has a nice light-weight one with 22 different filters available. Pick one for Ammonia and one for acids. They have a quick lock bayonet fitting that makes it easy to change when you change processes.
   (2) Wear rubber gloves when using the acid, wear goggles
   or a face sheild when spraying Ammonia.
   (3) If any acid drips on the house paint, just spray it with
   more Ammonia and then water.

6. 
   Justus_ | Apr 02, 1999 06:33pm | #14

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   I put some copper details on a deck job a couple of years ago. The client and I agreed that the "weathered copper" look was what we were after. It turns out I was expecting darkened copper, which is what we got, while the client wanted the copper to turn green.

   What can I do to turn the copper green without disassembling my work? Maybe wipe it with muriatic acid or something similar?

   I need help! Thanks!