Remove Paint from Brass Fixtures

Older homes often have brass heating vent covers, window handles and locks, and door knobs that have been covered with paint. Here is a simple way to reveal your antique treasures and let them shine.

Steps

  1. Remove the painted brass fixtures from the door or window.
  2. Place a few fixtures at a time in an old pan that you don't care about. [The pan should not be aluminum. Porcelain or stainless steel or glass are really the only acceptable materials. Aluminum will react in unpredicatble ways with vinegar and brass.] Place the pan on a burner of your stove or on an electric burner or hot plate that you can plug in outdoors or in a well vented garage.
  3. Pour white vinegar into the pan until it covers the painted objects.
  4. Turn the burner on and bring the vinegar to a slow boil, then turn to a simmer. The paint will begin to soften and separate after a few minutes. Do not boil pieces that are not solid brass for long periods; the vinegar will begin to dissolve the brass plating on areas that have been thinned by use, i.e. sash pulls (window handles).
  5. Remove one of the pieces with tongs and place on newspaper.
  6. Wearing heavy rubber gloves and using 002 steel wool, rub off the peeling paint. Use bamboo skewers, toothpicks or a wire brush to get into any difficult crevices.
  7. Continue wiping with 000 steel wool until paint is gone.
  8. Repeat for remaining fixtures, adding more fixtures to the pot as you go to prevent 'over cooking'.
  9. Polish the fixtures with Brasso, if needed.

Tips

  • Do this on a day when you can open the windows and turn on a fan. The smell of the simmering vinegar can be overpowering and seep into your hair and clothes.
  • For large fixtures such as vent covers, use an inexpensive roasting pan.

Warnings

  • Fixtures will be hot when removed from boiling vinegar - make sure you are wearing heavy protective gloves.
  • It is not advisable to use this technique on screws. Most brass screws are not solid brass, but thinly plated. They will lose every trace of brass within minutes.
  • Do not reuse pot or pan for cooking, no matter how well you clean it. Old paint has a high chance of containing lead. Lead is poisonous and can cause brain damage in children and reproductive harm to adults.

Related Articles

  • Remove Encrusted Paint from Door and Window Hardware
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