DIY: Copper Cabinet Hardware

The next item to tackle on my long house list is cleaning. 

Specifically, the original wood cabinets and copper hardware.

If you need a reminder on what this vintage kitchen looks like, click here.

This was the copper handles at their worst, vs. fully polished, but first...

The wood cabinets had a greasy build up around the bottoms and near the cabinet pulls. 

I removed all of the handles and got to work.

We think the make up of wood in the cabinets is primarily birch with medium oak and dark walnut trim. If you know better, please let me know.

My favorite little helper wanted to help as usual.
A little time and some Murphy's Oil Soap did wonders for all of the millwork.

Next, it turns out that the darker parts of each copper pull still had a protective coating on it, making it impossible to polish. BIG shout out to How to Clean Things for giving me information on this part.

I put the handles into 2 quarts of water and 2 tablespoons of baking soda and boiled to remove the old coating.

This left them even more tarnished, but now was able to polish them properly.

Next, I coated each one with a paste consisting of salt, vinegar and flour. I let this sit for 10 minutes then began to polish each one with a soft cloth (in my case I finally got to use all those holey socks I've been saving up).

Still not perfect, but certainly much better than they used to be.

Before.

After.

The cabinets have a renewed shine to them, and everything appears brighter overall.