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Aging a Shiny Brass Plated Fireplace Door

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Q. I have a shiny brass fireplace door that I'd like to change to a tarnished or aged appearance. I held a magnet to it and it stuck so it's iron or steel with some type of brass finish. Any suggestions on how to give it a more aged look?

I've found a number of people who have simply painted their brass plated fireplace surrounds black with black high temp stove paint [on eBay or Amazon]. I am seriously considering this as an alternative since the brass plated material on the surround is very cheap and doesn't look nice.

Has anyone else had any experience with doing that? Anyone have any photos of before/after?
Thanks.

Vangie Unti
- Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA
2006

A. Vangie, I can't remember any pictures being posted, but readers have indeed reported that they would be painting their fireplace doors with Satin Black Stove paint [affil links] . If you lightly sand the doors, it ought to go fine.

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

Q. All of my friends have a problem with their fireplace doors being shiny brass. We are all ardent crafters and would like to know how to antique them or just darken the brass. Possibly we could start a business helping other people with this problem. Most of the questions posted deal with non-heat related issues. Whatever we do, it must be able to handle the heat of the fireplace. HELP!

Virginia Baier
home crafter - Atlanta, Ga, USA
2007

A. Virginia, some of those doors may be solid brass, in which case brass darkening solution [on eBay or Amazon] should work. But if they're brass-plated steel (steel is magnetic), the darkening solution might reach the steel, with poor results, so sending them to a plating shop for replating may be the only answer. In the worst case they may not be brass at all (brass tinted lacquer over nickel), in which case any brass darkening solution would prove ineffectual. I don't think you'll find a really great brass-tone paint that has high temperature resistance unfortunately, but please let us know if you do :-)

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

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