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My brass door knob isn't truly brass?

Hello,
I have just recently received a job which I have a door knob that is "supposed" to be made of brass, now I have tried soaking it in ammonia ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] and other simple normal methods, and all have seemed to just leave a film over the still brass looking finish. So I decided that I was going to take a brass wire brush ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] and take down the original finish, well it worked but I believe I have come to a nickel finish, now the company that had sold the client the knob, swears that they did not sell him a cheap or incorrect knob, although they did say that they had made a knob called the "prestige Edition" and it was made a few years ago, which was when the client bought the knob, but the company still is insisting on the fact that there it is brass under this nickel, I don't know if we are getting a run around or what the situation may be, anyway I am curious is there is any possible way to strip the nickel or maybe if at all possible to rust the nickel finish, since the client wants it to be a dark stain on the brass? If anyone can even understand my situation I would greatly appreciate some sort of help! I am stumped and so are my co-workers.

Thanks very much,
Jeff

Jeff Prushinski
- Baltimore, Maryland
August 24, 2011

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It is probably brass-nickel-TiN. The PVD coated TiN ( Titanium nitride) is hard, resistant to many chemicals and looks like brass.

H.R. Prabhakara - Consultant
Bangalore Plasmatek - Bangalore Karnataka India
First of three simultaneous responses -- August 26, 2011

Will a magnet stick to it? Brass plated steel is quite common.

Chris Owen
- Nevada, Missouri, USA
Second of three simultaneous responses -- August 26, 2011

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Well I can't see where they would use nickel in a door knob but I would be willing to bet that if you put a magnet to it you will find that it sticks. Which of course would mean that its steel plated with brass. Then you would have to determine if the owner bought solid brass door knobs or plated brass door knobs and go from there. Just because they are advertised as brass door knobs does not mean they are SOLID brass door knobs. People make that mistake all the time with jewelry. It may say 18K gold but that does not mean that its solid gold. It just means that the plate over the base material is 18K gold.

Rod Henrickson
gunsmith - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Third of three simultaneous responses -- August 26, 2011

The door knob has a lifetime finish. It has been PVD coated over nickel chrome or nickel and tin nickel plating. The part can be stripped using a nickel stripper. The brass part can then be refinished to a dark finish using a commercially available oxidizer.

Chris Judt
- Lititz, Pennsylvania
August 30, 2011