The BEST Homemade Brass Cleaners

You can check out any interior design website and it’s obvious that BRASS IS BACK!

I find this amusing because growing up, we had so many  brass tchotchkes in our home – it border lined a fetish. 😉

Well maybe childhood nostalgia was one of the reasons I swooned for these handles. Aside from the gorgeous unique shape and design, I envisioned this tarnished furniture hardware all shined up to its original warm glow.

First things first though.

I had to make sure they were brass before I started polishing these babies up.

Is this solid brass… or not?

Before using any elbow grease to polish brass, it’s a good idea to make sure it really IS a solid brass item you’re working with. This is easy enough to do. Just grab a magnet from the fridge and place it on your hardware or item in question.

Solid brass is NOT magnetic – so if the magnet sticks, it may be brass plating or an alternative metal or mix.

After my handles passed the magnet test, I tried a few DIY Homemade Brass Cleaners for the best result. These easy recipes bring your brass hardware back to its original luster by using common household ingredients you have in your kitchen!

Here’s 3 Simple Homemade Brass Cleaner Recipes

Recipe #1

1 Lemon

1 Tablespoon of Baking Soda

In a plastic container I mixed the juice from one lemon along with a tablespoon of Baking Soda. It fizzed and then turned into a paste which I rubbed in with an old toothbrush. Another fast way of doing this is to cut your lemon into wedges then dip the lemon wedge into the baking soda. Use the lemon wedge covered in the baking soda to rub down and polish the brass.

Here’s the before and after when using the lemon and baking soda recipe. Not bad but not quite as shiny as I wanted it.

Recipe #2

5 Tablespoons Salt

1 Cup of Vinegar

(you can also add flour to turn this into a paste but it’s not necessary)

I added the salt and vinegar into a plastic container and rubbed the solution on with an old toothbrush.

I let the hardware sit for about 45 minutes while I worked on something else and then gave it another rub. I found this recipe worked better than the lemon and baking soda.

Here’s the before and after when using the salt and vinegar recipe. Perfect!

Recipe #3

Not so much a recipe as individual ingredients. Toothpaste (a method my Mum used on occasion when she ran out of Brasso) or Ketchup. I didn’t get around to using either of these because my #2 Recipe worked extremely well. Also, the thought of spreading Ketchup all over this pretty hardware wasn’t doing it for me… but I’ve read it works really well.

Instructions:

Doesn’t this look great! I think these brass handles look amazing all polished up!

Now here’s the kicker, after this hardware was all polished pretty,  I ended up painting them for this waterfall dresser re-do. Sometimes a vision doesn’t play out as planned right..lol. I still have two of these handles left, so maybe they’ll still get to show off their original now trendy luster on another project!

How do you feel about brass hardware or home decor? Have you tried any other homemade brass cleaner recipes? Or do you have a favorite product you use to shine your brass? I love all your comments, questions and suggestions so keep ’em coming! 

Catch last week’s Q-T-T here – and if YOU have any tips you’d like featured on the SI Quick-Tip-Tuesday-Series, feel free to send me an email!

Enjoy your day and have fun with your next project!

Denise x

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