How do I clean a very old brass door knocker?

Question

It is old, brass and very discoloured, any suggestions pse ..

Answer 1

If you can take it off and soak it in vinegar, if not drape a rag alll over it and pour the vinegar on after which keep soaking it, as a trial if you put a old penny or copper cion or brass in to a bowl you will see the result yourself.

Answer 2

Antique Brass Door Knocker

Answer 3

BRASSO p.s it also is good for- Fixing Scratched CDs
A simple and safe-to-do-at-home repair for scratched and scuffed CDs
When CDs first came out, there was a remarkable amount of sales hype about how indestructible they were. Those of us who work in radio stations soon found out! CDs are easily rendered unplayable by a small scuff or scratch to the playing surface. Fortunately, these minor abrasions can be easily fixed.

I'm making the distinction between scuffs and scratches because they interfere with the laser tracking and reading mechanism in two different ways:

a scuff mark renders the surface of the polycarbonate milky, rather than clear. This diffuses the laser beam, making it impossible for the tracking mechanism to locate and focus on the pits which carry the sound and tracking information.
a scratch which runs at an angle to the track usually poses no problem for the tracking mechanism. Indeed a well adjusted CD player should be able to track a disk on which a 1mm strip of black tape has been stuck - providing it is stuck on radially. But if a scratch is approximately tangential or circumferential, it can obscure the track below for enough time that the tracking or error correction cannot cope.
Both scratches and scuffs can be removed by the same method - by polishing them out using Brasso. Engineers have been using Brasso as a polish for plastics ever since it was released as a polish for brass.
Use the Brasso in the normal way. A drop or two is usually sufficient (one tin will last you a lifetime of great listening!). Use a soft clean cloth to rub the affected area with the Brasso until the mark is almost gone. Polish scuff marks radially. Scratches are best handled by rubbing along the direction of the scratch. With a scratch it usually is not necessary to polish it completely away - just clean it up enough for the laser to be able to see through it.

Finish up by letting the Brasso dry on the surface, then use a fresh soft cloth to rub it off. Just for good form's sake, do this last stage radially. Remember radial scratches won't generally interfere with the tracking mechanism.

When trying to work out which scratch is to blame for a mistracking, keep in mind that ones at an angle to the direction of rotation are not likely to cause problems. Also keep in mind that a CD plays from the inside out, so that a problem on an early track is more likely to be near the centre than the edge.

So far I have not found a scratched or scuffed CD I cannot fix using Brasso. I hope it works for you too!

Terry McGee


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Postscript
It's now many years since I wrote and published this article. Seems like not much has changed however. A recent study of the various fancy products now available for fixing scratched CDs reveals that they found Brasso is still the best! For more details:


http://www.burningissues.net/how_to/scratchrepair/scratchrepair

Answer 4

That's the charm of it. Old and blackened. You buy new ones made to look old. Clean brass looks "brassy".
However, there is brass cleaner and I seem to remember lemon juice and salt might do something like that.
But do note, brass oxidizes(blackens) on a daily basis, so you have to clean on a daily basis. If it is going green, that is due to acid rain.
Get fake brass(chrome yellow).

Answer 5

Take it off the door, soak it in coca cola (oh,yes). You many want to finish up with something like Brasso. To keep the appearance, you'll need to clear lacquer it as soon as you're done, brass tarnishes very quickly unless cleaned daily and I presume you don't want to do that!

Answer 6

I assume you have tried Brasso you can also try a metal cleaning cloth ,
Liquid foundation also works on all metals
you just put it on leave for a minute then rub it off
,If you spray the clean brass with hair lacquer it will keep its shine much longer

Answer 7

get it off the door , use a solible brass cleaner to soak it in , then a brass polish

Answer 8

tomato sauce works wonders just rub it on the brass then wash it off with water and buff the brass with a towel.

Answer 9

buy some tamarind form the supermarket, soak it in water, just about covering it. leave it for about 30 min, then squeeze out the tamarind. dip a rag in the tamarind juice. wrap the rag round the doorknob. leave it for about 10-15 min. then rub it off . repeat the soak and rub but now you need not keep the rag on.
IT IS THE MOST ECO FRIENDLY AND GREEN WAY OF DOING IT RATHER THAN USING CHEMICALS.
ATB

Answer 10

Brasso