Cleaning brass with brown sauce

There's a box of "stuff" at our boat club that members can help themselves to for free, or at least a tiny donation to club funds. It's mostly full of electrical bits and kit leftovers, but a few weeks ago, this little spring balance was sat on top.

I thought it looked a bit sad, so decided to bring it home for some TLC and to try something I'd read about years ago.

Having brushed a bit of dirt from the metalwork, I doused it in brown sauce and sealed the lot in a plastic bag.

The next day, I took it out and washed the sauce away. As hoped, the tarnishing was pretty much gone and after a little buffing with some Brasso, the balance looked brilliant.

 As I don't actually need a spring balance, it was returned to the pot from where I hope it has found a good home.