My hinges need a facelift!

I'm updating our late '70's home and would like to clean all of our brass plated hinges and strike plates to restore the original luster and shine. I actually bought all new hinges to replace them ,but they are just a few millimeters too large for the current hinge recesses. I would rather clean up the old hinges instead of chiseling out the recesses to fit. I just finished painting all the jambs white and don't want to have to repaint them! Is there a good way to make my old hinges look new again without having to purchase equipment (such as the vibratory maching mentioned in a previous question)? Is a brass cleaning liquid solution too harsh for plating? Now that all of our doors and trim are white, the hinges look dirty and drab!

Thanks for any response!

It's a big job. First, they need to soak in lacquer remover; then clean with Brasso ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] , Copper Glo ⇦ on eBay [affil link] or some other copper cleaner. Test them with a magnet to make sure they are solid brass, not brass plated steel before investing the effort.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey