old victorian/edwardian brass. I have brass plates on my doorsteps, and the hadles and knockers are solid OLD brass. Someone has painted over them and I have spent ALL morning sanding the door and scraping the paint off the brass. Brasso or is there something better!, I want them to shine!
vintagekitty,
Jan 9, 12:09am
I will check back later, have to get back out and finish the job. Prob lead paint im removing too!
twindizzy,
Jan 9, 12:24am
Solvol Autosol
elliehen,
Jan 9, 12:41am
Brasso is messy and turns your hands green but it does a good job.
lurtz,
Jan 9, 12:45am
Brasso gives a nice final shine. However before using it on harder to clean items, I have often used salt and malt vinegar and plenty of rubbing. Then a wash in detergent and hot water. On tough spots I use a fibre scouring pad or similar.
Aunt Daisy's Book of Handy Hintssuggests"Wash brass with hot soapy water containing a good dash of Scrubb's Cludy Ammonia. Rinse in clean water. Or try a paste of lemon juice and whiting - leavingit on for a few minutes, then wash with hot soapy water with a few drops of ammonia. When highly polished a coat of clear varnish might be applied very thinly; or rub over with a good floor wax."
lilyfield,
Jan 9, 2:50am
perfect good advice
uli,
Jan 9, 3:44am
Use a cut Star Fruit.
". The sourer varieties contain more oxalic acid and can be used for polishing brass and removing rust stains ."
lemon and salt will clean it ,that is what we used to use on the copper when we wonted to cook ham .you cut lemons in half and rub the plain salt in .it makes a wonderful job but needs a stronge hand on a copper
lurtz,
Jan 9, 6:36am
Vintagekitty -I forgot to say that I admire what you are doing.
I have stripped old brass from scratch, and also old furniture. I don't think I could do it now, however, when I was younger, it was just what I did, and what many others did too; from necessity.
Westill use everything Irestored. One lovely barley-twisted legged table covered in black enamel paint, which took me many months to strip, is still a joy. Although I never entirely got rid of the underlying black stain, I did manage to sand it after stripping, so the black later blended into the brown stain. I realise that my messageis not about recipes or brass cleaning, but I hope it is encouraging. Restoring is hard work, and so rewarding. All the best;-) .
vintagekitty,
Jan 9, 10:27am
Thanks so much for the replies, I have just sat down, busy busy busy. Now is Solvol Autosol from mitre 10, i'll check it out tomorrow. Where is cloudy ammonia from - the supermarket and what is whiting!. I do have clear wax. Finally lurtz, thankyou so much for your comments, we develop properties for a living but my house is a labour of love. The guys would just rip it out for a development and pop a new door in its place, but not at my own house. Cheers for the lovely comments:)
elliehen,
Jan 9, 11:14am
In our previous house - a 1910 'colonial' - we had a lean-to bathroom which had once led to the outdoors.I stripped about five coats of thick old paint from a broad step and discovered not only beautiful wood, but square-headed nails.
We also removed hardboard from the four-panel doors hoping to restore them but found too much borer.We still went ahead and stripped them.It's said that many old NZ houses only stay standing upright because of all the borer holding hands ;)
cookessentials,
Jan 9, 6:07pm
In one of my places, I had brass door plates on the door steps. I am pretty sure they were polished professionally then coated before being put onto the door step.
grandma,
Jan 9, 7:52pm
Memories - My family (and coincidentally my husband's too) were all taught not to walk on the step and it is so ingrained that even today, we never step onto the modern wooden steps.Just proves that we are creatures of habit which in future the original reason will no doubt be lost in time.Well done vintagekitty.
horizons_,
Jan 9, 9:47pm
Tomato sauce is absolutely the best for lifting patina from brass and copper, but won't remove rust. Just smear on, leave for 10 mins and wash off. repeat if needed. Polish after with brasso. Use the cehapest tomato sauce.
mamaa,
Jan 9, 9:58pm
What about cleaning Pewter.I have found some love old goblets I had stashed away.They are about 35 years old.Need a good clean, but know you have to take care with pewter!Any advisethanks
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