We’re lucky to have an uncle who generously gave us a collection of antique door hardware when we first bought our house. (random facts: Since that point we’ve removed 8 doors and installed 4 doors – 2 without knobs and 3 of them in the past week.) We’ve been game planning with our doorknobs- time to shine them up! Here’s the future guest bedroom & bedroom closet knobs, pre-cleaning:

First I tried the metal cleaning paste, which worked on one of the unlacquered knobs but took a lot of scrubbing.

Paste & q-tip in action:

I also learned a magic trick to clean copper- vinegar! Soaking the knobs in a reused feta container:

I ended up just cleaning the lacquered knobs with a rag and bit of the vinegar to get any grime off. In the end, I discovered (clockwise from bottom left) 1 lacquered copper, 1 lacquered brass, 1 unlacquered copper, 2 scuffed up ‘jappaned’ finish . I think.

So there we have it!