Painting brass hinges

[Russ Sears]

I hope this is the proper forum for this question. LOML would like our brass cabinet hinges to become black. Is painting them a fool's errand? I'm thinking I should just buy new ones but I'm always interested in saving a buck or two if possible.

[Conrad Fiore]

Russ,
Are they raw brass, or are they coated?

[Glen Butler]

I am reminded of chemistry when we made brass pennies from zinc powder in some nasty acid. If you were to change to color of the brass it would need to be some sort of acid bath to chemically change the color. I don't think paint would stick.

[Russ Sears]

Russ,
Are they raw brass, or are they coated?

I don't know. Could I find out by scratching one? They're probably pretty cheap; they were put in with my cheapo builder-grade cabinets about 20 years ago.

[Conrad Fiore]

Well I would say that if they have not tarnished in 20 years, they are coated with something. If that is the case, clean them off with mineral spirits to remove any grease, give them a quick wipe with denatured alcohol and spray them up with a coat of Krylon black spray paint. If they have tarnished, I would clean them with lacquer thinner and dip them in a brass oxidizing solution to turn them black for the antique look. At that point you can either leave them as is, spray them with a clear lacquer, or spray them with black spray paint.

[Brian Peters]

I wouldn't paint them. If its solid brass you can get an aging solution and depending on how long you leave them in the chemical you can get it pretty dark. I believe rockler/woodcraft carry the stuff.

[Russ Sears]

Thanks guys. The aging/oxidizing solution sounds like the way to go. I'll see what happens.

[Neal Clayton]

the oxidizing solution will create what hardware dealers advertise as "oil rubbed brass" or "oil rubbed bronze". "oil rubbed" finishes you see on hardware from various places don't have any oil in them at all, they're just prematurely aged with those chemicals to create that matte black patina.

alternatively you can just remove the lacquer and they'll turn that way on their own over about ~100 years .