Do you dream of renovating your vintage home but aren’t ready for a large project? For a smaller project, consider cleaning and restoring your vintage hardware. You may have beautiful, detailed hardware hidden under paint and years of grime.
Cleaning the hardware requires just a few simple items:
An old pan that you don’t ever plan to cook with again
Vinegar
A magnet
Metal tongs
A small scrub brush
The cleaning product called Bar Keeper’s Friend
A polishing cloth,
Kitchen gloves
The appropriate polish for the type of metal you have.
The steps to clean the hardware are outlined below.
1. Remove the hardware from your door. Be sure to keep all of the screws and pieces in a safe lace. You may need to use WD40 to loosen the old screws.
2. Test the metal to ensure it is not magnetic. If the metal is magnetic, it should not undergo this cleaning process. Brass, copper, gold, and silver are not magnetic. Brass was the most common material used for door hardware in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Industrial Revolution introduced recessed brass hardware made in factories. Many pieces shown in the photos here are brass with a copper finish. Some parts of the door hardware may be made of cast iron, which could rust if cleaned in the water and vinegar solution. Cast iron is magnetic, though, so you should be able to catch it with the magnet test.
3. Add equal parts water and vinegar to the saucepan. Bring this mixture to a boil, and then drop your hardware in. Let the hardware soak in the boiling mixture for a minimum of 10-15 minutes. Leave it even longer, depending on how much grime has built up on your hardware. Don’t overfill the pot with too many pieces of hardware at once. I recommend adding only a few items to the pan and then repeating the process with fresh water and vinegar for additional hardware. The boiling vinegar mixture should loosen any old paint and grime.
Once it seems to all be loosened and coming off, use metal tongs to remove hardware from the boiling mixture. With rubber kitchen gloves on, use running water to clean off any additional loosened paint and grim.
4. Use Bar Keeer’s Friend and a scrub brush (a toothbrush, stainless steel cleaning ball, or any cleaning brush will work) and scrub the small areas on the hardware. For really tough pieces, scrub them for a while, and then repeat the boiling vinegar and water process and scrub again. Be sure to dry the metal at the end of this process.
5. Once you are happy with the cleanliness and coloring of the hardware, I recommend using a brass polish and polishing cloth to finish it off at the end. The polish helps bring out the shine but also protects the metal.
6. You then have the option to seal the metal to keep it in its shiny, clean, post-cleaning state. Use a metal sealer such as Everbrite Protective Coating for Metal. If you prefer allowing the metal to change color over time and oxidize to develop a patina, skip the sealing step.
Reinstall your hardware back on the door, and be proud that you saved century-old vintage hardware from a landfill!
