How do I clean heavily tarnished antique brass knobs and handles?

Answer 1

Firstly, ensure the item you want to clean, is actually brass. If it isn’t brass, you could end up tarnishing it rather than cleaning. The easiest way to check is to see if a magnet sticks to it. If it’s real brass, the magnet will not stick. If it does stick – do some further investigating and don’t clean it until you’re sure of the metal. You should also check the the brass has not been lacquered. Lacquer was sometimes added to prevent tarnishing, but it can start coming off in patches.

What will I need?

Lemon

Baking Soda

Small bowl

Spoon

Soft cloth or cotton wool

How do we clean the brass?

Cut your lemon in half, and squeeze into a bowl. Remove any seeds.

A spoonful at a time, add the baking powder to the lemon juice. Your mixture should end up with a toothpaste like consistency, so the amount of baking soda you end up using will depend on the amount of lemon juice you have. Ensure you mix the two ingredients together in the bowl. Don’t mix directly on the brass or you could up with patches.

Take a soft cloth or cotton wool and apply the mixture to an area of your brass object. You may want to test a small patch on the bottom or back of an object to help you decide whether to carry on.

work the mixture into the brass. A soft cloth may work better for you, as you could end up going through a lot of cotton wool.

Use warm water to rinse the brass and dry it off.

Use your second cloth to polish. Don’t be afraid to put some hard work in – the more gleam you want, the more you’ll need to polish.

kernowfurniture.co.uk/blogs/news/how-to-clean-antique-brass

Answer 2

fIRST BOIL IN SOLUTION OF HOT WATER AND BAKING SODA, THIS WILL REMOVE ABRASIVES, THEN CLEAN WITH A HIGH QUALITY BRASS CLEANER!

Answer 3

remove all the dirt