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can brass hardware be spray painted?

9 years ago

We just finished having two oak lateral files spray painted white. They look great and are part of a plan for a new home office/hobby room for DH and myself. The oak files came with shiny brass handles, locks, and file card frames. I'd love to change the hardware to satin nickel, but the people at Sherwin Williams didn't recommend painting them. I thought I had seen lots of folks at GW spray painting their old brass fixtures, etc. Anyone have a product they could recommend for this?

Thanks in advance; I miss the old GW! Maybe when this new office/workroom is finished I'll get my nerve up, post a photo and show it off :) So far it's an empty room painted with EK Mushroom and everyone loves the color!!

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Comments (3)

palimpsest
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Fixtures do well, because you don't touch them much. I haven't had a lot of success trying to spray brass hardware that gets touched a lot, like doorknobs.
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Lars/J. Robert Scott
9 years ago
Much better to have them plated. I send all my old hardware to platers and get much better results than I would if they were painted. Paint will wear off fairly quickly, due to the amount of use.
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The refinisher will dip the piece into some chemicals to strip off the lacquer finish. Then, assuming the piece is brass, the refinisher will force-age the piece and re-lacquer it. If the piece is not brass (check with a magnet, brass won't draw the magnet), then the refinisher will need to take other actions (such as coat the piece with brass first). Over the years, we have had many pieces coated with chrome or turned ORB brass. The cost varies a great deal, depending on what the underlying material is and whether re-wiring is needed. My lamps, for example, typically cost about $100 or more each. Knobs, hooks, and stuff were considerably less. I attached one company's price list. I use a local plumbing store. I found , more in the range of $ at keeps the piece shiny. Here is a link that might be useful: price list
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that's a beeee-autiful dresser indeed! :) i've painted furniture and accessories right out of the store too, so i don't know why cabinet hardware would give me pause. haha and CEFreeman, i love rub n buff, but i want a matte black finish, so that didn't occur to me because i've only seen the metallic rub n buff carried locally. A quick search shows it does come in black! maybe i'll spray paint black for coverage and then finish with some black rub n buff for protection. i'm liking that plan! gosh, i was looking to you all to prevent me from doing something silly and here you are encouraging me! :) and in case anyone is searching on this topic... here's a great blog DIY project on spray painting black and then using copper rub n buff in order to create a DIY oil rubbed bronze finish. Here is a link that might be useful: DIY Oil Rubbed Bronze finish cabinet hardware
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Plating is expensive but I’ve done it and was very happy with one guy. Another was a complete disaster so check references. spray painting has also been a very successful option. I’ve never heard of chrome paint. Only metallic silver. one item that I painted gold was bright gold for a white and slowly turned to sort of antique gold. I was OK with that, knowing I can re-spray if it gets too dark. rub and buff also a good option but too labor intensive for me. Have only used for touch up repairs and for highlighting frames. Wouldn’t do a bigger project this way.
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Thanks for the responses. I know brass is on trend now, but I've lived with shiny brass fixtures all over my house for so long I vowed when it was time to update the brass had to go. The more I think about it, though maybe I should at least look at the new brass faucets. It would solve the p-trap dilemma. If I do decide to go with chrome I'll look into Rub N Buff, I've never heard of it.
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joaniepoanie
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I spray painted both my brass dining room hutch and bedroom furniture pulls. I decided against buying new furniture since we plan to retire in a few years elsewhere and won't take it with us, but they needed refreshing. I painted our bedroom furniture white. I looked into having the pulls plated but it was going to be $400. Was not going to spend that for 30 year old furniture I had just painted. Figured I had nothing to lose and they came out great.

Here's what I did.....threw the pulls in a bowl with dish soap and gave them a good cleaning and scrubbing with a toothbrush, rinsed, and set on towels to dry. A thin coat of spray primer, 2 thin coats of nickel spray paint, 1 or 2 thin coats of spray matte poly sealer. I'm in at least a few of the bedroom drawers everyday and there has been no peeling since I did them 4-5 years ago. I'm sure I bought the paint at Lowes or HD.

Edited to add...just make sure you buy paint for use on metal.

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