Brass is not gunmetal.
With gunmetal, iron oxide forms a thin airtight layer for a while, protecting the metal underneath, at least till proper rust gets going. With brass, the same is not true for copper and its alloys. So corrosion doesn't prevent further corrosion. Further, the verdigris expands, relative to the metal that was there before, so mechanisms can be jammed. And it looks vile as well. John -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
