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On my front door and on the kinda fancy storm door, I have door knobs and/or levers that are brass colored. I doubt that they are real brass but they look like brass.
Anyway, my problem is that after about 20 years, the knobs/levers are rather tarnished. They still work perfectly, but they just don't look good.
My question is what to do about them. I know that I could clean them with some Brasso (or similar) polish and they would look better, but I'm not sure how long the improved appearance would last. Does anyone have an educated guess on this? I don't want to have to do this polishing every month.
Or, I could perhaps PAINT the knobs/levers with some brass/gold colored paint. That might look better for a whole lot longer. Has anyone tried this method or have comments on it?
Or, I could buy new ones to replace the existing ones. This would be the most expensive alternative, but if it would stay new looking for another 5 to 10+ years, then it might be worth it.
Suggestions welcome.
Thanks.
.
You may have either sold brass with a clear lacquer finish or zinc that is brass plated with a clear lacquer finish. If they were solid brass with no lacquer, it would start tarnishing immediately.
To tell if they are solid or plated would require trying to remove the finish in a discreet spot - it you see silver underneath, it's plated.
To restore requires the lacquer be removed, the brass polished, and then have lacquer reapplied. If you don't reapply the lacquer, you will have to polish them regularly as the finish changes. Believe it of not, unlacquered brass is a popular look today as people want it to tarnish.
The Wright product you linked to is zinc with a satin nickel finish.
Replace. We have oil rubbed bronze in our house, I love the look. But we've had to replace the high traffic knobs and handles because the finish has worn.
We never had that problem with the brushed nickle knobs in our former home. Next home will be brushed nickle whether it's the in thing or not.
Oil rubbed bronze from most lock manufacturers is a living finish - it's supposed to change. The finish rubs off as it's used and oils from you hand are left on it. That leads to the finish wearing and changing leading to a warm patina.
Brass is antimicrobial, so for door knobs/handles or knobs/handles on kitchen cabinets, which are some of the most touched items, it's the "best" finish to use.
"Brass look" can be one of two things: Brass plated steel, or solid brass.
Both are typically polished then finished with a clear finish (commonly called "lacquer" but most of the time it's an epoxy product).
The problem is that the clear coat wears off, then brass starts to tarnish according to the laws of chemistry. Once this starts you can polish all you want and it won't make any difference, it'll always look spotty. You have three choices:
1) Strip it and leave it, thus committing to a lifetime of polishing.
2) Strip it, polish, re-coat. Unless you have the equipment to put a professional level coating on, it's going to last a few weeks under constant wear and use (doorknob!) and then you're back where you were.
3) Strip it, polish and have it plated with something better (rhodium or gold). Expensive and hard to find platers who will work on one-off decorative objects like this. Personally I'd go with electroless nickel for a beautiful hard durable finish. Of course, rhodium or nickel changes the color.
My vote is always going to be to go from initial purchase with fittings that don't require constant polishing - thus, chrome, nickel plate are the two leading contenders. Yes, eventually these will also pit and corrode, but the bathroom fixtures in my house are 85 years old and still no pitting - chrome plated brass.
"Rubbed iron" - if that's steel with a black oxide finish (think Parkerizing) it will rust unless you keep it oiled.
Oil rubbed bronze from most lock manufacturers is a living finish - it's supposed to change. The finish rubs off as it's used and oils from you hand are left on it. That leads to the finish wearing and changing leading to a warm patina.
I guess it's like soapstone counter tops that also develop a patina after some use.
Oil rubbed bronze from most lock manufacturers is a living finish - it's supposed to change. The finish rubs off as it's used and oils from you hand are left on it. That leads to the finish wearing and changing leading to a warm patina.
Unfortunately, most all “ORB finishes” are not “Bronze”- big difference!
I threw out all the doorknobs in my condo and replaced them with lever handles. 6 screws per door, much easier to operate.
Sure! Easy to say and do when talking about borehole locksets. The OP has a mortise lockset. They require a bit of finesse to install- especially when doing replacements that are not same manufacturer. And depending on the lock features, can be somewhat difficult to master- especially those that have only used borehole type locksets.
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