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My hinges need a facelift!

2003

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!

Diana Schemansky
- St Peters, Missouri, USA

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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
(Ted can offer longterm or instant help)
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2003

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