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Tag: Brass

Caring For A Brass Plaque

Posted on by Kate

Maintaining particular plaques can be challenging, particularly for some of our more traditional memorials. Despite crafting with top quality materials, even we can’t fully protect your memorial against the unpredictable British weather! That being said, we are here to support you in caring for your memorials. This is why we are sharing this blog with you today.

We get a variety of questions about brass specifically. So we wanted to use this space to explore how you can protect and maintain a brass plaque.

Why Does Brass Tarnish?

We love crafting with brass because it is a traditional, timeless classic! Brass memorials have existed since the 13th century, and they have been a popular choice ever since. So, despite brass proving itself to be more difficult to maintain, we still back brass memorials and believe them to be a worthy choice. Some even enjoy having to maintain these pieces for their loved ones.

Brass is a metal alloy, meaning that it is composed of two or more elements. In this case, brass is composed of copper (for lower habitability of bacteria) and zinc (for strength), among other metal elements like lead and iron. Copper and zinc, when exposed to water or moisture, cause the brass to corrode through a process of oxidisation. Oxidised brass turns shades of black, blue and green – but rest assured that this is merely staining on the surface of the brass. This is why you can maintain a brass plaque back to its former shiny self. 

How Can You Maintain A Brass Plaque?

The nature of brass means that it will tarnish over time and it will require regular buffing to maintain its appearance. Some people like to treat their signs with a light layer of Vaseline or Olive Oil as this reduces the rate of tarnishing without detracting from the appearance of the sign. 

We would advise polishing gently with a soft cloth as brass scratches easily. Applying a brass polish such as Braso is recommended. However, try not to overuse brass polish as sometimes this can have a detrimental effect. Over polishing, or polishing aggressively, can lead to the removal of the brass plating, which inevitably will change the appearance of a brass plaque. It is worth noting also that, as a company, we choose to avoid using varnish on our brass plaques. Our experience shows that the varnish weathers and forms an unsightly scaly appearance. 

The process of frequently polishing a brass plaque should be quick and easy. In the long run, this will maintain the quality of your plaque, and keep it looking its best for longer. 

Click Here For Brass Cleaning Video

Reach Out to UK Memorials

If you’ve arrived at Uk Memorials and you don’t know who we are, we are a sister company to The Sign Maker. The Sign Maker are a Devon-based, family-run, bespoke sign making and memorial business. We pride ourselves on crafting high-quality signage by award-winning craftsmen and having immaculate customer service. This is why we share blogs like these to support you in maintaining your memorials.

We welcome you to reach out to us with your questions or queries on brass signage – we would be delighted to hear from you and help you out where we can. Alternatively, find us on social media, via email or through our online shop to check out our extensive memorial catalogs.

Beautiful Brass

Posted on by Kate

Beautiful brass, a traditional material that is still very popular in memorials today and for good reason. It is very versatile, can have lots of different engraving techniques applied and once polished looks stunning. If you want to learn more about the material brass and understand why it might be the right choice for a memorial keep reading.

The Material

Here at UK Memorials we use a top quality CZ120 brass which has a good corrosion resistance. When purchasing any type of brass makes sure to check with the company what brass they use as this will effect the longevity of the product and how often maintenance will have to be give. Our brass is the carefully cut by one of the engraver technicians, the edges are bevelled and holes are given if required. The engraving technician will then polish the brass until it is bright, shinning and mark free. It is then engraved using one of our many methods which we will talk you through next.

Beautiful, high quality brass memorials crafted at UK Memorials.

The Methods

When it comes to how we engrave our brass memorials, we have a couple of different techniques based on the design of the memorial. Here at UK Memorials we have highly trained designers onsite who will help you design the perfect memorial. For some customers, this is simply wording laid out that is pleasing to the eye. For these types of plaques, our engrave technicians use a method called deep engraved. This is where the lettering is engraved into the brass and then paint filled, most often with black paint. Other customers, however, have wanted much more detailed imaging alongside the wording. To achieve this our engrave technicians can use a method called scratch engraved. This is where the brass is scratched into to create the design but is not paint filled. It is very effective and often looks particularly good alongside deep-engraved lettering. Finally, if you wanted a full-colour image or logo then the best option is our chemically etched brass which produces beautiful, full-colour memorials with a very high-quality finish.

Here at UK Memorials we have a range of different techniques to make truly bespoke brass memorials.

Additional Features

Some customers will choose to simply have the brass plaque on its own for use on walls, benches and indoor remembrances. While other customers want to be able to have the plaques near planted trees or memorial sites. If this is the case you can have a wooden backing board for your plaque to sit on. Our high-quality backing boards are made out of either Oak which is treated with an industrial-strength satin varnish and wood milk to increase longevity. Or Iroko which is a timber that is very naturally oily which we only oil as it doesn’t like varnish. All our backing boards are made by our carpenters and are made around 25mm bigger all round than the plaque itself. You can choose to mount plaques on backing boards and put them both on a wall or you can have a tree stake to hold the plaque above the ground. Here at UK Memorials, we have a few types of tree stakes available. There are our Wrought Iron Tree stakes which are made by our blacksmith, these are galvanised and painted black. Alternatively, you can opt for our Angle Iron Tree Stakes which are slightly chunkier than our Wrought Iron Ones. Finally, you can opt for our wooden tree stakes which are a popular choice for those who prefer timber to metal. For more information on the different types of tree stakes we make and sell take a look at our website.

Here at UK Memorials we have a range of different tree stakes available to mount your memorial plaques onto.

Further Information

We hope you have found our blog of our beautiful brass memorials informative. If you have any questions or would like a quote done please do not hesitate to contact us using any of the methods below:

Te: 01796 618585
Email – Sales@uk-memorials.net
Website