Bob Cleek

That makes two of us. Apparently, they are indeed what we call "burrs." I wasn't able to find any reference to them as "stump cutters." All Google gave me were advertisements for tree stump removal and tree services.  

I overlooked the fact that he was asking abou blackening brass. My bad! Truth be told, I've never tried LOS on brass, but I"ve heard the same complaint from others. I've always primarily used copper instead of brass for fabricating model metal work, mainly because I came by a large stock of it years ago and found it easy to work with and so have used LOS on it. When I have used brass tubing and the like, I've always painted it, not by design, but just by happenstance.  
 
 
Therefore, I'd say...
 

Ditto to the best wishes with the docs! 

"Stain"  can have more than one meaning as it is commonly used.
it is often used to describe any product that colors wood.  This comes from turning the verb "to stain", meaning anything that colors, into a noun.
In general two different agents are used.
 
An actual "stain" is a semi transparent paint.  If you use this on wood before using PVA, there is a possibility of the pores and fiber irregularities being filled. A weak PVA bond is possible.
If CA is used - it will bond to the paint layer.  Its strength will be the strength of the paint to the wood.
Some stain products advertise as being "penetrating".  This probably means that there is a mixture of paint and dye in the product.
 
A dye soaks into the wood. It is a clear solution of dye molecules in the solvent base,  It does not affect the surface or the pores.
There are two types of dye - water based and alcohol based. 
The water based dye soaks in more deeply.  On a piece of furniture, this can make a difference in the quality of the look.
At model scales,  the surface is too small for a deeper color to be visible.  Water base will cause wood to swell with the first application or two - sanding and or scraping is needed to fix this.
Just water can be used first, sanded and then dyed - it may save a second dye application to hide what the sanding did to the color.
Alcohol based dye saves all that. The wood does not swell and it dries more quickly.
 
A stain product makes its living by turning cheap and poor quality wood into something that looks better - to partially hide boring grain - often on open pore wood species that need a thick pore filler.
A dye is meant for high quality wood, where the grain wants being accentuated instead of being hidden.

I overlooked the fact that he was asking abou blackening brass. My bad! Truth be told, I've never tried LOS on brass, but I"ve heard the same complaint from others. I've always primarily used copper instead of brass for fabricating model metal work, mainly because I came by a large stock of it years ago and found it easy to work with and so have used LOS on it. When I have used brass tubing and the like, I've always painted it, not by design, but just by happenstance.  
 
 
Therefore, I'd say...
 

Ditto to the best wishes with the docs! 

You could check out liver of sulphur, available at jewelers' supply houses like Otto Frei or Rio Grande.  It may be about the same price as the Birchwood Casey stuff and likely very close to the same thing.

In my experience, shellac alone is an entirely sufficient adhesive for gluing down paper "plating," and it dries much faster than PVA.

It's always been my impression that the current practice of coppering model ship hulls was the result of nothing more than some European kit manufacturers taking the opportunity to throw a little bit of copper foil into their boxes so they could advertise "Real copper included!" and add substantially to the "number of parts included" by counting each copper plate.  

Thanks, Roger! That's always been my layman's understanding of it as well.

Ditto to the best wishes with the docs! 

Ditto to the best wishes with the docs! 

Ditto to the best wishes with the docs! 

In my experience, shellac alone is an entirely sufficient adhesive for gluing down paper "plating," and it dries much faster than PVA.

My go-to pin vise is a very common one:
 

 
This is the Otto Frei pin vise linked above. The neat thing about this pin vise, which it took me years to discover, is that if you unscrew the collet nut, the collet can be pulled out and end-for-ended where there's another sized collect at the other end. If you unscrew the barrel of the vise, there's yet anothr double-ended collect in the handle tube. The OP may want to check his pin vise that only holds larger bits. I'd bet it has a similar arrangement. There should be a zero hole collet and another three going progressively larger from there.
 
The dedicated pin vise sized sets like the Starrett-style mentioned about and particularly handy for holding very small bits which can then be chucked into a drill press. The big bucks you would pay for the Starrett set reflects the machining tolerances that ensure very accurate concentricity of the bits. That level of accuracy is always nice to have, but it's not necessary for modeling wood working.
 
The "hand vise" or "jeweler's vise" is an entirely different animal from the pin vise, even though they are both called vises. The pin vise is for holding drill bits and awl points and things like that and is used as a tool holder. The hand vise is not a tool holder, but rather a workpiece holder. Hand vises come in many shapes and sizes, some being quite specialized. There's nothing better for holding small parts when you need to work on them. The one linked above that has a hole in the handle so a long rod can be run through is designed primarily for pulling long lengths of wire and rod through a draw plate to siize or shape the work piece. The ability to run the rod or wire straight through the handle permits long lengths of material to be puled though the draw plate while maintaining a grip on it close to the face of the draw plate.
 
For general modeling purposes, the engraver's hand vise, sometimes called a "universal work holder" is one of the most versatile of all hand vises:
 

 
$13.00 from Rio Grande jewelry supply house: Universal Work Holder with Handle - RioGrande
 
Work can be held between the open jaws shown above or work pieces of practically any shape that will fit between the pegs inserted on the face of the vise can be held by placing the pegs as necessary for the sides of the pegs in the holes to squeeze the sides of the irregularly shaped work piece. The wooden handle also screws off, leaving a square block that can be mounted in the jaws of a fixed bench vise to hold the "Universal Work Holder" securely for two-handed work. 

In my experience, shellac alone is an entirely sufficient adhesive for gluing down paper "plating," and it dries much faster than PVA.

I haven't encountered this problem with the one I have. It has a "zero" sized collet which closes completely and will hold even the smallest numbered bit.
 
Other than that, I agree completely with the advantages and disadvantages you mentioned. I would only add that when I use the separately sized collet pin vises in my drill press with a small bit, I generally turn the drill press chuck manually rather than with the motor turning the quill because there's less chance of breaking the tiny bits with a very slow hand rotation. I don't think that this is a "one size fits all" situation. Sometimes you have to have the right tool to do the job and that may mean buying more than one pin vise.

My go-to pin vise is a very common one:
 

 
This is the Otto Frei pin vise linked above. The neat thing about this pin vise, which it took me years to discover, is that if you unscrew the collet nut, the collet can be pulled out and end-for-ended where there's another sized collect at the other end. If you unscrew the barrel of the vise, there's yet anothr double-ended collect in the handle tube. The OP may want to check his pin vise that only holds larger bits. I'd bet it has a similar arrangement. There should be a zero hole collet and another three going progressively larger from there.
 
The dedicated pin vise sized sets like the Starrett-style mentioned about and particularly handy for holding very small bits which can then be chucked into a drill press. The big bucks you would pay for the Starrett set reflects the machining tolerances that ensure very accurate concentricity of the bits. That level of accuracy is always nice to have, but it's not necessary for modeling wood working.
 
The "hand vise" or "jeweler's vise" is an entirely different animal from the pin vise, even though they are both called vises. The pin vise is for holding drill bits and awl points and things like that and is used as a tool holder. The hand vise is not a tool holder, but rather a workpiece holder. Hand vises come in many shapes and sizes, some being quite specialized. There's nothing better for holding small parts when you need to work on them. The one linked above that has a hole in the handle so a long rod can be run through is designed primarily for pulling long lengths of wire and rod through a draw plate to siize or shape the work piece. The ability to run the rod or wire straight through the handle permits long lengths of material to be puled though the draw plate while maintaining a grip on it close to the face of the draw plate.
 
For general modeling purposes, the engraver's hand vise, sometimes called a "universal work holder" is one of the most versatile of all hand vises:
 

 
$13.00 from Rio Grande jewelry supply house: Universal Work Holder with Handle - RioGrande
 
Work can be held between the open jaws shown above or work pieces of practically any shape that will fit between the pegs inserted on the face of the vise can be held by placing the pegs as necessary for the sides of the pegs in the holes to squeeze the sides of the irregularly shaped work piece. The wooden handle also screws off, leaving a square block that can be mounted in the jaws of a fixed bench vise to hold the "Universal Work Holder" securely for two-handed work. 

In my experience, shellac alone is an entirely sufficient adhesive for gluing down paper "plating," and it dries much faster than PVA.

If you plan to use pressure sensitive adhesive copper foil tape I really think that you’re doing things the hard way to achieve questionable results:
Longevity-  All pressure sensitive adhesives are suspect
Scale- See Johnnie’s Post above
Nails-  At model making scales, best left off
Weathering- difficult to achieve scale effect
 
I would use acid free paper stiffened with shellac.  Cut it into plates and glue down with PVA glue.  You can then paint with airbrush to achieve wanted effect.
 
I agree with Bob that copper foil in model kits is just a marketing gimmick.
 
Roger

It's always been my impression that the current practice of coppering model ship hulls was the result of nothing more than some European kit manufacturers taking the opportunity to throw a little bit of copper foil into their boxes so they could advertise "Real copper included!" and add substantially to the "number of parts included" by counting each copper plate.  

It's always been my impression that the current practice of coppering model ship hulls was the result of nothing more than some European kit manufacturers taking the opportunity to throw a little bit of copper foil into their boxes so they could advertise "Real copper included!" and add substantially to the "number of parts included" by counting each copper plate.  

I haven't encountered this problem with the one I have. It has a "zero" sized collet which closes completely and will hold even the smallest numbered bit.
 
Other than that, I agree completely with the advantages and disadvantages you mentioned. I would only add that when I use the separately sized collet pin vises in my drill press with a small bit, I generally turn the drill press chuck manually rather than with the motor turning the quill because there's less chance of breaking the tiny bits with a very slow hand rotation. I don't think that this is a "one size fits all" situation. Sometimes you have to have the right tool to do the job and that may mean buying more than one pin vise.

My go-to pin vise is a very common one:
 

 
This is the Otto Frei pin vise linked above. The neat thing about this pin vise, which it took me years to discover, is that if you unscrew the collet nut, the collet can be pulled out and end-for-ended where there's another sized collect at the other end. If you unscrew the barrel of the vise, there's yet anothr double-ended collect in the handle tube. The OP may want to check his pin vise that only holds larger bits. I'd bet it has a similar arrangement. There should be a zero hole collet and another three going progressively larger from there.
 
The dedicated pin vise sized sets like the Starrett-style mentioned about and particularly handy for holding very small bits which can then be chucked into a drill press. The big bucks you would pay for the Starrett set reflects the machining tolerances that ensure very accurate concentricity of the bits. That level of accuracy is always nice to have, but it's not necessary for modeling wood working.
 
The "hand vise" or "jeweler's vise" is an entirely different animal from the pin vise, even though they are both called vises. The pin vise is for holding drill bits and awl points and things like that and is used as a tool holder. The hand vise is not a tool holder, but rather a workpiece holder. Hand vises come in many shapes and sizes, some being quite specialized. There's nothing better for holding small parts when you need to work on them. The one linked above that has a hole in the handle so a long rod can be run through is designed primarily for pulling long lengths of wire and rod through a draw plate to siize or shape the work piece. The ability to run the rod or wire straight through the handle permits long lengths of material to be puled though the draw plate while maintaining a grip on it close to the face of the draw plate.
 
For general modeling purposes, the engraver's hand vise, sometimes called a "universal work holder" is one of the most versatile of all hand vises:
 

 
$13.00 from Rio Grande jewelry supply house: Universal Work Holder with Handle - RioGrande
 
Work can be held between the open jaws shown above or work pieces of practically any shape that will fit between the pegs inserted on the face of the vise can be held by placing the pegs as necessary for the sides of the pegs in the holes to squeeze the sides of the irregularly shaped work piece. The wooden handle also screws off, leaving a square block that can be mounted in the jaws of a fixed bench vise to hold the "Universal Work Holder" securely for two-handed work. 

It's always been my impression that the current practice of coppering model ship hulls was the result of nothing more than some European kit manufacturers taking the opportunity to throw a little bit of copper foil into their boxes so they could advertise "Real copper included!" and add substantially to the "number of parts included" by counting each copper plate.