Is There a Way to Keep Your Cabinet Hardware in Colorado Looking Like New?

If you have an older house, you might be interested in trying to keep as much of the original woodwork and hardware as you can so that the style of your home remains intact. You might even want to keep the same patina and wear on your hardware. However, that does not mean you should settle for corrosion and an excessive level of tarnish. You can still have “period” hardware that looks like it’s only been recently installed, or like it’s been well maintained over the years since the construction of your house.

Here are some tips to help you clean and refurbish your door, window and cabinet hardware in Colorado.

Remove the hardware

Your first step should be to carefully remove the hardware, being sure not to strip the screws or damage any wood or metal. If the hardware was painted over, you may need to chisel the paint that’s in the screw holes or holding the hardware to the wood. You can then determine the kind of material you’re working with, if you don’t already know. Solid brass is not magnetic, so if it appears to be brass but a magnet is drawn to it, it’s probably brass-plated, which will require you to be gentle.

Wash

Wipe the hardware with a lint-free cloth, then let it sit in warm water for a few minutes to loosen up the gunk. Keeping the hardware wet, sprinkle on the cleaning product you’ll use. Bar Keeper’s Friend is a great product you can find in stores for this, but you can also use vinegar and baking soda, in which case you’d first brush the hardware with vinegar, then sprinkle the baking soda on top before rubbing the hardware.

After sprinkling on the cleaning supply, you can gently rub the surface with an old toothbrush (or another soft-bristled brush). At this point, the product will start to work up into a paste and will act as a sort of gentle buffer. You may need to go over the metal several times if there’s a lot of gunk built up on it, so use more water and cleaner as needed.

Rinse and buff

Once you’ve completed that initial cleaning stage, you can use water to rinse off the cleaning solution that’s left on the hardware, and then use a lint-free cloth to buff the hardware, making sure each piece is fully dried so you don’t have any issues with rust once you reinstall it.

After completing this process, you’ll be able to put your hardware back on the door, cabinet, window or wherever else you took it from in your home.

That’s it! It’s a relatively simple process to refurbish the old hardware from your home’s cabinets and other fixtures and furnishings, but it’s important that you take great care when doing it so as not to cause any lasting damage. For more information about cleaning custom cabinet hardware in Colorado, contact the expert team at Custom Door Hardware today. We look forward to assisting you!

Categorised in: Cabinets