Brass doorknob, solid – recondition / clean up

We have terrific solid brass doorknobs in our place and it's time to treat them like they deserve and spiff them up a bit.

Brasso is terrific, but it can only do so much by itself. I've found that I can help it remove decades of uneven tarnish with a soft abrader, like the one I have for my Dremel precision tool:For this job, though, it's a waste of a precision tool because they wear down – I'd use a whole one for one doorknob, using it on the large surfaces.

What I need, then, is the same sort of gentle abrader, but much larger, to fit on a standard electric drill.

I've looked, and looked and looked. Online and in local hardware stores. Nothing like that.

Has anyone seen such a thing? Any ideas? Thanks.

 

Check out Klingspor woodworking shop. They carry several different styles of abrasives puffs that might work for you. Another option would be the roloc system of abrasives; you can get them with scotchbrite type abrasives that might do the job. You can find a lot of the roloc stuff on Amazon.

 

I'd suggest you put on some rubber gloves and use Brasso along with a Scotchbrite pad, and polish them by hand.

 

Unless you plan to spend a lot of time polishing them in the future, coat them with the hardest, clear lacquer you can find. Rings constantly chip knob coatings, so polishing and coating will need to repeated at some point in the future.

 

Another option would be to use a buffing wheel in a bench grinder (if you have one) along with buffing or polishing compound. You can start with a coarser abrasive (like black or brown) and finish up with rouge for a high polish.