Old Is New Again-Part 2

Last week we did a post about an old mid-century dresser, purchased at our local thrift store, that we painted and refinished.  One of the best features of that great old dresser was the hardware.  The hardware, on this older mid-century dresser, it turns out was solid brass.  It was badly tarnished and the lacquer or varnish on it had turned a dark color that didn’t allow the beautiful shine of the natural brass to be seen. We first tried a method we had seen on an HGTV show about how to refurbish old hardware.

The suggestion was to place them in a slow cooker with soapy water and leave them overnight, or simmer them for several hours in a some soapy water on the stove top.  We tried that and while this method may work to remove paint from hardware that has been painted over, it did nothing to loosen or remove the lacquer.

As is often the case, when faced with the dilemma of how to clean the hardware without scratching the surface, we were led to a discovery of a great product that we are so pleased to have found and happy to pass on to you, our chums.  The wonderful polish is called Flitz.  Using a very small dab of the Flitz and some very, very fine grade steel wool, in minutes the hardware was looking beautiful You can see here the great job this polish did.

With a minimal amount of effort these wonderful old brass pulls, became shiny and gleamed like new.

So for your next restoration project we strongly suggest you get yourself a tube of this wonderful product.  You may be able to find it at your local True Value hardware store, at Home Depot, or on line from Amazon or Walmart.com.  A tiny amount does the job, so though a tube may cost you anywhere from about $12 – $20, according to some users rating this product, one tube will last you several years.

We think anything that works this well, and this quickly, and actually does what it says it will do, is well worth what it costs.  Reviving beautiful old objects and giving them new life or new purpose, can’t help but bring you a sense of joy and a sure sense of satisfaction and abundance 🙂