door hardware restoration

[aislinn]

Hi All! We finally got around to painting our upstairs hallway over the long weekend, and I removed all the door hardware and boiled it to remove all the paint that had been on them. It appears that they are made of two different kinds of metals, and would love your input. I plan to just put them back on as is, because even with blemishes I think they look better than being painted over, but would love your two cents. Also while our first floor hardware is not painted over, I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to freshen it up a bit? Not trying to get it to look like new, but I feel like the grunginess is making the beautiful details stand out less. For some reason it's only allowing me to attach the photo of the upstairs hallway hardware that I soaked and then I'll reply with photos of the downstairs hardware.

[aislinn]

the downstairs hardware

[Gothichome]

Hello Aislinn, the greyish silver plate looks like spelter. I suspect they are both spelter or some other cast alloy. The fact that one retains some its brass finish and the other not suggests that they may have had a flash plating of brass and for some unknown reason the flashing failed to adhere over time exposing the grey base metal.
You can replicate the original look with a tinted lacquer spray paint from one of the big box stores or even an automotive parts store.
I like your brass push plate.
Your black door plates are probably cast iron, they may have been dipped in a satin black enamel paint at the factory. Once again this can be easily replicated with a spray can.
You mentioned reinstalling as is, I see nothing wrong with that, it shows some age and patina and adds a bit of warm historical charm to an old home.

[aislinn]

Ok that makes so much sense re: the brass flashing. It’s about 50/50 on the ones that retained it and the ones that didn’t. Kind of fun to think about what they would have looked like when originally installed! And thanks for your help on the iron, never would have guessed that!

[Casey]

Hi,
The white knob plate was introduced in the 1870's. The "PUSH" plate is AEsthetic movement solid brass/bronze from 1880 on, and the egg&dart door plates are from around 1900, and they are pressed steel with an oxidized copper finish one of which has washed/worn off (the light color is the steel).

[aislinn]

Thank you Casey!

[phil]

the top left one looks like copper plating to me. If you want to try experimenting I dont think it is hard to do copper plating yourself. Its easy to scrub through the plating while trying to shine stuff up so it may have gotten removed that way.

here is an example using materials youd have around the home.
https://www.instructables.com/id/High-Q ... r-Plating/

often other plating uses copper first but a lot of hardware has a thin coating of just copper.

maybe you could plate it and then also scrub it a little to intentionally cause some wear if you like the copper look? aside from paint there are also different chemicals for blackening that dont have thickness like paint. a jiffy marker can leave that sort of thin coating.

if you try plating you might need to etch or clean it or things like fingerprints might show.

the boiling or using chemicals like stripper might avoid abrasion. you can use plastic scrub brushes with stripper. some plastics melt, others can take it.