Bar Keepers Friend vs. Brasso

I've been quite busy these days trying to get a lot of small, time consuming jobs out of the way.

Some of you remember I spent days last weekend and early in the week looking for 2 items: Brasso and neutral coloured shoe polish. I never did find the shoe polish.  I'm not in a rush now so next time I'm at Wal-Mart I'll look for it there. I don't get there very often. I did find Brasso on Tuesday at the Safeway Grocery Store.

I was looking for Brasso to clean the rust off of a bathroom light fixture. Before I tried Brasso though I tried something called Bar Keeper's Friend that I had on hand.

I found Bar Keepers Friend (BKF) did a better job and didn't burn my fingers like Brasso did (I didn't wear rubber gloves). See the before and after pics below (click on the photos for a better look).

Before

After

This fixture has been rusted for years already and I intended to replace it. Then I had the bright idea to try something to remove rust.  I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.

I don't actually like using BKF much because it is very clumpy and hard to make into a paste especially since the fixture is up on the wall it make it a bit tricky.  But after 2 applications and a bit of a scrubbing I am pleased with the result. I will do it once more before I replace the globes (you only see 3 light bulbs because using 4 makes it too bright in the bathroom.

Let me know if you have any experience and success with home made or store bought products for rust removal and cleaning of metals.