Restoring antique doorknobs.

paint stripper will not hurt glass, but it is noxious, be careful with it.

(lacquer thinner is a less hurtful substitute)

no brass experience to speak of...

Heck yeah that might work!

We don't do any serious stripping, chosing to take it to the pros instead but we have had doors dipped and stripped without the glass being damaged.

I suppose I could just try wetting a towel with the stipper and rubbing the doorknob so I wouldn't have a tub of it laying around anywhere.

I've been worried about trying anything and mucking up the doorknobs. I've looked at replacements and I simply can't afford it.

now that I think about it, I have stripped old brass radiators in 50's Chevys and polished them.

I dont think it would hurt it to just strip the whole shabang...

Yep, I agree.

The nice thing about door knobs is that you can dip them. Hopefully that would cut down on the fume exposure some.

Well okay then!

I'm going to give it a try!

we have several glass and about 8 ceramoic knobs. All had been painted by previous owners of the house(along with the face plates ). We tooke em apart and soaked them in various stripping solutions. The best strippers contain methylene chloride which is toxic and, in a closed environment , can cause symptoms similar to carbon monoxide.SO, a simple filter or gas mask wont work. What you need to do is to take these things apart and put them in plastic buckets with stripper. OUTSIDE (have an outside building? thatd be perfect. let em soak for several days and then the paint will come off like the skin on vanilla pudding.

What we've used on the metal parts is a cleaner called TSP.

You bake the parts in a TSP bath - 250 degrees for about 2 hours using a pyrex or stainless pan. The paint comes right off in these gloopy blobs when you rinse it in very hot water.

TSP requires basic safety -- don't drink it, wear gloves and eye protection. It isn't awful nasty stuff like stripper. I always hesitate to have really nasty chemicals around because of Mo and his friends, and because of the pets -- that's the reason why we send the stripping out to be done. With TSP I can do a batch of hardware while he's off at school and have everything put away by the time he gets home.

just be careful with Xl knobs, baking em can cause them to break. The TSP im familiar with is trisodium phosphate. (Thats CALGON) Its a detergent. I suppose it works with heat or id the paint isnt too old and adhered to the metal.(Glass and ceramics are smoother so the paint doesnt really adsorb as much).

I haven't used it on the doorknobs as TSP is not recommended for glass and I was worried about heating them up.

This is old paint and it is firmly stuck on and the TSP works great on metal. If the object cools the paint will restick so you have to work fast and work in really hot water. So yes, I think heat is the critical element to getting the TSP to work.

Since my only problem right now is really the glass do you think a bit of stripper on a rag used to wipe off the paint will work or will I still have to soak it?