Maintaining Ironmongery

Maintaining different types of ironmongery finishes can be overwhelming, hopefully, this will assist with any queries that you may have.

If you purchase a lacquered brass item, it is best to only use a damp cloth using plain water with no cleaning chemicals to clean the surface and a dry cloth to buff and remove water lines. This will preserve the lacquered surface for the period of time the ironmongery is fitted before the lacquer breaks down to the point where the item needs to be re-lacquered or re-finished.

Lacquer on ironmongery will only last and preserve the item for a period of time but the length of this period can be completely different depending on location, volume of use, how exposed to the elements the items are.

Applied finishes such as polished chrome, satin chrome, satin and polished nickel, and bronze finishes normally last longer outside as a plated surface is far more durable than a lacquered item.

Once again the suggested maintenance for plated finishes would be to clean with no chemicals just a damp cloth soaked in water and then buff with a dry cloth.

If you have a unlacquered brass item, most of the time these items are left to look aged once the item has started to oxidise in situ.

If you wanted to keep the item looking new shinny and gold then you will need to use a brass cleaner, brass with no lacquer can be cleaned directly on the surface of the metal, lacquered items cannot.

Stainless steel normally requires a stainless steel cleaner.

If you have hinges, often people need to re lubricate the knuckle of the hinges to reduce wear and to keep the hinge operating correctly and swinging free.

If you have items with grub screw fixings, it would be a good idea to check the grub screw has remained tightened maybe once a month, depending on the use of the item grub screws can be come loose over time, worst case scenario is the grub screw could fall out the product and be misplaced.

James Cox

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