How to clean a Tarnished Brass Letterplate

Just because your brass has tarnished due to lacquer breakdown doesn't mean you need to replace it. Renovating and up cycling items instead of buying new is good practice and we will show you a procedure to get your tarnished brass door furniture looking like new.
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[@jlh5995]

Hey Door Furniture Direct - thank you for taking time and effort to produce this excellent, easy to understand and follow, video tutorial on the refinishing of a brass letterplate.

[@johnristheanswer]

Good video but surely cheaper to buy a new one by the time you've purchased all the individual items and time spent ?

[@giuseppinasolinas]

Or boil It with water and vinegar and scrub with steel wool?

[@arianesavi]

Hi, You have the best video explanation on how to restore brass. Thank you I live in Nova Scotia, Canada and am having difficulty finding the products. I am trying to restore brass hardware such as door handles and hinges. Do you think this method would work if I find similar products? I was worried when I read the comment about tarnish spreading because the door knobs are hollow. I was interested in lacquering again since they are door knobs. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much

[@DoorfurnituredirectCoUk]

Tarnish is only a very thin layer of corrosion which does not damage the brass and actually helps to preserve it. Some people like the effect and leave it this way but it can look unsightly when parts of the item look bright where the lacquer is good and other parts look tarnished where it has broken down. I doubt it would have done any harm to your door knobs, if you remove the lacquer and leave it that way you can get an antique patina effect where the brass looks lighter where handled and darker in other areas. You may prefer to leave the lacquer off if you want that to happen, but if you prefer the brighter look then re-lacquering (or waxing) will help to maintain that look for longer. Personal choice and no harm experimenting.

[@judeongeri2238]

What do you do to dispose of the contaminated rinse water? Can't tip it down the drain! Mother of a wild swimmer.

[@65csx83]

Was such an elaborate 3 step lacquer removal process necessary? If so much lacquer remained, how did the item tarnish?

[@DoorfurnituredirectCoUk]

It kind of depends on the type of lacquer you have on your item or the possibility of paint at the edges. We generally found that the Nitromours worked on very old lacquers whilst the brass restorer was fine on newer lacquers - it says on the Nitromors can "removes paint, varnish and lacquer". You could skip the Nitromours step and give it a try. Sometimes the Nitromours softened up the lacquer so that the brass restorer worked better but important to get all the old lacquer off. Lacquer can become porous after time and the brass will tarnish underneath and spread from just a pinhole.

[@classiclistener0150]

Thank you for posting! :) I have all of these products, but, please...what is 'super-fine-grade quadruple-zero wire wool?' Is this readily available at hardware stores...in the US? In the past, I've used non-wire wool patches for gunsmithing. Is this the same thing/same material? Once again, thank you for posting - great video! :)

[@DoorfurnituredirectCoUk]

Super fine grade 0000 is available in the UK for polishing metals and ought to be available in the USA. We have it on our website here: www.doorfurnituredirect.co.uk/liberon-grade-0000-ultrafine-steel-wool-250g.html

[@fr4001]

Hi I have noticed a lot of reviews saying Nitro Mors doesn't work any more. Something to do with the new formula that now complies with new EU regulations. Is there an alternative product that could be used to remove the lacquer from the letterbox?

[@DoorfurnituredirectCoUk]

+henry tortoise Hi Henry, Yes an interesting point, although their instructions suggest the new formula is just as good. The lacquer is primarily removed with the Brass Restorer but I think there is some validity to the point that the Nitromors can "soften up" some lacquers to make this stage easier. I guess it's down to how resistant your particular lacquer is to Nitromors.

[@scorpionnetherrealm8937]

Trey Whitegoose hows about sandpaper

[@vincenzocamarda4526]

Hi, what kind of tool did you use in the last part of the video to apply the varnish?

[@DoorfurnituredirectCoUk]

It was an "air brush". You can get kits which are not too expensive, just google the term. You may need to thin the lacquer down to spray it.

[@spurii4334]

All that cost for chemical - buy a new plate guys and save a fortune

[@DoorfurnituredirectCoUk]

If you can find a direct replacement letterplate with all the same dimensions and bolt centres then that is a fair comment. Unfortunately there is sometimes no eqivalent size available, and when you factor in the cost of a joiner to tailor in the new letter plate renovating the old one may make sense.

[@livvylaughs6150]

@@DoorfurnituredirectCoUk absolutely! I wanted a black letter box plate to replace a brass one that I have to polish regularly. Getting one the same size is impossible and getting one fitted is mega bucks… so I’m painting mine,