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Painted Brass Hinges

In the house I live in, the previous owners painted ALL of the brass door hinges. There are at least three layers of different colored paints.

What would be the best way to clean the hinges? What would I use to protect the cleaned hinges from tarnish once they are cleaned?

HELP

Thanks,

BC Marrs
- Boise, Idaho, USA
2002

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Hello,

Your local hardware store should have some paint stripper available. That should take care of any old paint on your hardware. Once the offending paint is gone, polish the brass. Brass polish should also be at your local hardware store, or look around on-line for some. Once you have it polished, you need to chemically clean any residual polish (i.e. a solvent such as acetone ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] Warning! highly Flammable! ). Then lacquer or wax. You're done.

Jake Koch
G. J. Nikolas &Co.,Inc.

Bellwood, Illinois

2002

Soak all the hardware in 100% ammonia ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] for several hours. The layers of paint will fall off. Then just use a "brillo Pad" ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] and lightly polish. THis works like a charm. I used this method for all the painted hinges, plates and doorknobs in my 100 year old home. Good luck. Let me know.

Jill Murray
- Schenectady, New York
2005

Worked like a charm! It also worked on porcelain fixtures to remove paint.

Natalie McDonald
- Summerside, PEI, Canada
2005