On Aug 9, 6:38*pm, "walter" wrote:
My house is 30 yeas old. the brass handles on three doors have never been
cleaned or polished. See photo.

What can I do to make them look a bit more presentable? Preferably without a
lot of hard work.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/407/1000337j.jpg/

Can't see pics (checking usenet while taking a break @ work) so I
can't speak to your specific situation, but I've had good luck with
Eagle One wadding polish as purchased at your FLAPS (it's really
intended for polishing old school uncoated mag wheels) for cleaning up
brass doorknobs, switch plates, etc. Personally I don't mind a little
patina (at least on older houses) but sloppy paintwork makes me
stabby, so I've had to do this a couple times. Will leave a little
bit of protective coating on the brass, or you could wipe with solvent
after you're done and then use some spray clear lacquer to protect. I
did this once in a house that I was renting because my landlord was
going to replace all the 40's vintage hardware with new stuff and I
didn't want him to do that - he thought I was the greatest thing since
sliced bread (I also fixed an old paned window for him and he was
amazed that such things could actually be done...)

If you have a bench grinder, you could also use a loose, soft buffing
wheel and some polishing compound on that, will make fast work of the
job.

nate