Dumb mistake and experimentation on a 20" K

Auspicious

Silver Member
Ok I am not proud of that .. and my mess but.. I have a 20"K cymbal and a couple years ago I buried it in the ground in the hope of improving it's sound with patina and turning it to a nice uniform brown color. So to give you an history about 18 years ago, I cleaned that cymbal with Zildjian cleaner, it turned polished bright and the cleaner left some kind of protection on it, preventing it to oxidize, obviously.

I never really liked that cymbal except for it's crash which has some good wash to it.. but the sound of it does not match the rest of my cymbals..

So I sent it on a 1 year trip directly into the ground. Again foolish mistake, that's was not the way to burry the cymbal into the ground, I learned after that they should be in a wooden box not directly IN the earth.. etc.

So now I took the cymbal out (3 years ago) and I still dont like it very much, the sound is better then before, it lost some annoying complexity but the stains on it, I am not sure it's even patina.

I don't know what to do with it, but now since we are well passed the point of no return, I would like to know how to turn it all dark brown like a real "earth" line ride.

GFccX6L.jpg

PJmywWK.jpg

idR2Cg8.jpg


Any ideas how to do that?
 
Ok I am not proud of that .. and my mess but.. I have a 20"K cymbal and a couple years ago I buried it in the ground in the hope of improving it's sound with patina and turning it to a nice uniform brown color. So to give you an history about 18 years ago, I cleaned that cymbal with Zildjian cleaner, it turned polished bright and the cleaner left some kind of protection on it, preventing it to oxidize, obviously.

I never really liked that cymbal except for it's crash which has some good wash to it.. but the sound of it does not match the rest of my cymbals..

So I sent it on a 1 year trip directly into the ground. Again foolish mistake, that's was not the way to burry the cymbal into the ground, I learned after that they should be in a wooden box not directly IN the earth.. etc.

So now I took the cymbal out (3 years ago) and I still dont like it very much, the sound is better then before, it lost some annoying complexity but the stains on it, I am not sure it's even patina.

I don't know what to do with it, but now since we are well passed the point of no return, I would like to know how to turn it all dark brown like a real "earth" line ride.

GFccX6L.jpg

PJmywWK.jpg

idR2Cg8.jpg


Any ideas how to do that?

You...are a patient person. You buried that for a year?? That's wild.

I know @johnwesley does patina stuff on snares - maybe he can help?

Mine just look dark green because I get all oily and gross at gigs and touch them and never clean them. So I guess you could send it on the road with me for a year if you'd like haha.
 
Frankly, if I were you I would first try and get rid of the green staining which is likely the oxidation of whatever amount of copper is likely in that alloy. Then I would take an electric drill and put a soft buffing pad on it and buff out any other staining you can by using a polish. Once you have it nicely cleaned up, just use the dang thing and let it get that patina naturally. I have a ride, crash and a pair of hi hats that are about 45 years old and I've never once taken any polish or cleaning to them. And I never will. Let nature take it's course. Clearly that requires patience. But is there really any better way?
 
We've all made mistakes! When I was 16-17 I spray painted a cymbal because I wanted red cymbals, after 2 coats of Krylon it sounded like a damn cookie sheet.

Omg that makes so much 16 year old sense hahaha. That's hilarious man.
 
Hahahaha what are you doing man....

Seriously, it's a worthy experiment-- I'd go on some sculptor supply sites. I don't think you can get an earth ride patina on a lathed cymbal, but there are a lot of other interesting possibilities.

The mistake was to clean the cymbal 18 years ago, that was even dumber then putting it into earth. I have it since I am 15 years old and now I am 39, and we paid about 400CAD for it then, perhaps a bit less. The good news is, the sound is a bit better then previously, it's drier with the stuff on it, I can use it still use it, it's just very ugly now.

So it's dumb but only an aesthetic error.

I learned the hard way, I really thought the burial would turn it brown in very little time.

I would only bury a cymbal if I wanted to hide it as a form of incriminating evidence.

lol.

Frankly, if I were you I would first try and get rid of the green staining which is likely the oxidation of whatever amount of copper is likely in that alloy. Then I would take an electric drill and put a soft buffing pad on it and buff out any other staining you can by using a polish. Once you have it nicely cleaned up, just use the dang thing and let it get that patina naturally. I have a ride, crash and a pair of hi hats that are about 45 years old and I've never once taken any polish or cleaning to them. And I never will. Let nature take it's course. Clearly that requires patience. But is there really any better way?

I don't know if I want to pass the buffer on it.. I prefer it dirty like that then bright. I though patience in a very humid environment would do the trick to build patina.

We've all made mistakes! When I was 16-17 I spray painted a cymbal because I wanted red cymbals, after 2 coats of Krylon it sounded like a damn cookie sheet.

LOL hahaha
 
Hahahaha what are you doing man....

Seriously, it's a worthy experiment-- I'd go on some sculptlathed cymbal,or supply sites. I don't think you can get an earth ride patina on a lathed cymbal, but there are a lot of other interesting possibilities.


Thanks for the website.. I think it's a good idea really, i would be willing to test a product on it to fix it's look, dirty brown uniform, even if it's heterogeneous.

I might order a bottle of the brown patina... I'll study these products, thanks for the website. Do you know anything about the results of these products so far?
 
Ping these guys and see if they can help:

 
When they first came out I bought a Big and Ugly Ride, 23 inches. It was too big so i sold it for profit. I was told they were made "ugly' by soaking in salt water . Not sure how long or the cocentration but Google may help yo9u.
 
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