How to Clean Brass Door Knobs?
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Cleaning your door knobs and the rest of your doors is a great way to give your whole house a lift. These are cleaned so rarely that when you do see them clean, it makes you feel as if you’re living in a hospital – or the home of someone with way more time than you! If you have an old home, you more than likely have brass door knobs – it was a common material used for creating door accessories at the time.
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, and is one of the oldest alloys known to man. In ancient times it was produced by melting calamine, a zinc ore, together with copper, which was a very common metal. It looks very similar to gold, although is somewhat less pure yellow in color, having some brownish color variation throughout its surface. It is relatively resistant to tarnishing, and the reason it was used in so many old homes is that it has a relatively low melting point compared to other metals, of around 900 degrees Celsius. This makes it relatively easy to work, especially if you think about living in the time when the furnishings in your home were made, and alloys were created by melting metal – only not with fans and other electrical items to keep the flame hot enough, but with a bellows and a stoker, worked by a very hot and exhausted blacksmith! The less heat needed to create a metal, the more often it could be made – hence the brass door knobs in your home!
There are several varieties of brass – common brass is around 37% zinc, is cheap and easy to work. Yellow brass is the common name for the 33% zinc brass, Admiralty brass contains 1% tin along with its 30% zinc, which stops the zinc from reacting with other chemicals in the environment and ‘corroding’ your brass. Aluminum brass contains aluminum, for similar reasons to Admiralty brass - to improve corrosion resistance. The door knobs in your house may be made of any of these sorts of brass. Other types are used for gunmetal, boiler fireboxes, flexible metal hoses and bellows, and springs, screws and rivets. Brass is also commonly used because it is recyclable without any loss of its properties – it does not become weaker or a different color upon reworking – it is wear resistant, cost-effective and is not degraded by sunlight. Brass is sued in situations where wear-resistance and accuracy are required, such as in clocks, compasses and watches, as well as the chronometer invented in the 1700s!
If your brass door knobs haven’t been cleaned in a while, they will probably need to be scoured. This can help give the ‘new’ finish back to them, removing some of the brownish variation in the surface color – the tarnish. If you have old items in your home, it makes sense to use older sorts of cleaning solutions, also. This would have been how ladies, bustling round in corsets cleaned their door knobs while their mustachioed, monocled and top-hatted men worked, to keep their women at home! A half a cup of vinegar mixed with 1 tablespoon of salt is a good solution to use to clean your brass. This creates a saturated solution of salt, leaving some crystals undissolved, and these are your gentle scouring crystals. However, the chemicals work well by themselves also, if you apply them using a soft cloth and then rub off using a scouring pad. In this case you don’t need to use as much salt.
One thing that not every home had in Victorian times, but which is nearly essential to homes now, not to mention cheaply and readily available, is disinfectant. Did you know that door knobs carry more germs than do toilet seats? Even if you don’t have the time to scour your brass door knobs regularly, it’s a good idea to wipe them over with disinfectant. Perhaps as you do the rounds of the kitchen bench, dining table, and the sinks, you could incorporate a quick trip around the house, wiping the door knobs.
When you’re choosing a commercial brass cleaner, beware of the ingredients. Some of the ammonia-based compounds,
which are caustic, will react with the brass and dissolve it over time. Acidic compounds are a better choice to clean your brass with. You need gloves to apply either one, but the acidic compounds will dissolve
whatever is on top of the brass – dirt, germs and some of the tarnish – without compromising the actual metal. The brass underneath can then be polished very easily. What we reccomend here in Britain is Brasso or Autosol Metal Polish.
Restoring badly tarnished brass requires a bit more preparation. In this case, you may need to get out the caustic cleaning products – however, look for the more expensive or more well-known brands, or you can use a vinegar spray after the compound has been on for a little while to stop the basic compounds eating the brass. Read the instructions on the product – some come with their own acid neutralizer.
Remember, your best bet is always to ask an expert – there are people in our very large world that deal mainly in brass, as a career, god bless them – and they are the ones that can give you the best advice about specific cleaning products to use.
11 Responses to “How to Clean Brass Door Knobs?”
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Thanks ! The vinegar and salt worked great !
Wow! I agree the salt and vinegar is amazing, and works so quickly - now I can get polishing it with my shop bought polish which would not touch it before!
Yay! The salt and vinegar mix took all the gunky stuff from my brass door handles and mail slot. Then I was able to polish the brass to a like new shine with Brasso.
Thanks for the tip!
you can also use T-CUT.ive used it for years.
I’ve found brown sauce does a great job, not just on brass but on copper as well. Just wipe it off after 15 or 20 minutes.
My front door brass handle is exposed to the sun and therefore the lacquer finish has peeled off about 75% of the handle. How do I get the remaining lacquer off to polish it and then re-lacquer the handle? Any help would be appreciated.
I HAVE A BEAUTIFUL ANTIQUE DOOR SET WHICH I AM VERY UNFAMILIAR WITH. IT IS BRASS AND DECORATED. THE KNOB, THE LONG PIECE WITH THE KEY HOLE ETC. IT’S ALL IN GOOD SHAPE, BUT,NEEDS CLEANING AND I WANT TO PAINT THE DOOR. SHOULD I TAKE THE LOCK AND KNOB OUT OF THE DOOR OR CLEAN IT IN IT AND TAPE IT UP FOR PAINTING? I SO DO NOT WANT TO RUIN THIS PULL AS YOU CALL IT.
I removed the lacquer an old brass headboard, and the only thing that worked was paint stripper.
I haven’t re-lacquered. I’m not convinced that a spray can of lacquer will create a durable finish. I’m considering leaving it natural, or perhaps using one of the commercial finishes that create an aged copper look, or something similar.
While searching for a coating, I came across a professional recommendation to recoat using acrylic urethanes, especially for outdoor use. This makes good sense. Arcylic urethane is very durable and doesn’t yellow
Salt & vinegar worked a treat! Cheap and effective…thanks!
This salt and vinegar mixture was great! I recently acquired an antique cabinet which has eight brass door knobs and they are all shining proudly now, thanks for this fantastic tip!