Brass Door
Brass Door
Restoring Your Old Brass Door Handles to Beauty
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After several years of being exposed to various environmental elements and air, brass can start to look dark, old and tarnished and this is just a natural situation that homeowners will face with time. However, this does not mean that you should go out your way choosing the replacement because you can still restore the beauty of your brass door handles as they once was. Before anything else, please be reminded that the process can involve toxic products therefore you should take proper precautions.
You should know that some door handles are made from brass while some others are just brass plated therefore it is important that you know which ones you are going to work out on. If you ask whether the process is different then the answer is no but some of the materials are different. Restoration of brass plated handles is done with the use of gentler cleaning materials. You don't want to scrape the brass plate and reveal that the handle is not brass after all.
Therefore, the first thing to do is make sure whether you are dealing with a brass-made handle or brass-plated. You can determine which is which if you stick a magnet to the handle. If the magnet sticks to the handle then you are pretty much sure that it is not brass. The problem that you will face is when the magnet doesn't stick since this is not 100% definitive of a brass-made handle.
Most brass suppliers would often teach their clients on the trick how to identify brass-made handles. Usually, you can make a scratch on the unremarkable area on the lock and see whether it is yellow. If it is yellow then you are dealing with a brass-made door handle but if it is not then you have a brass-plated one. The point is to make sure that you identify what you are working with before you start with the project.
Clean the door handle and thoroughly rinse the brass with tap water and let it dry off. Make sure that the surface is really dry to prevent any distortion in the color. The best method suggested by many brass suppliers is to wipe the brass handle with dry cloth and use a blower to make sure that the surface is indeed dry.
Once the surface is already dry, mix equal parts of flour, salt and vinegar. Wet the door handle with water then apply the paste and leave it for around 40 minutes. Clean off the door handle and voila! You already restored your brass handle into its beauty. A lot of brass suppliers have their own method of cleaning the brass but this should do for you.
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