Refinishing door hardware Part 2: Sanding
Ok, so you gathered up the supply list and now you are ready to jump in. A word of warning: this part is not fun. I did not enjoy this part of the project. But there is a bright side–after we completed a large part of our hardware, we (meaning my brilliant husband) thought of a much easier way to finish it up. Therefore, you will benefit totally from his brilliance, and we will have partial benefit.
Sanding step 1: Remove your hardware. The difficult way (if you have extremely heavy, composite doors) is to take it all off at once and prop the doors in various spots in your house for at least 2 days. Be strategic with this if you have more than one bathroom. With all the doors we have, we divided them into groups and only worked on 6-7 doors at a time, making sure that at least one bathroom in the house still had a door.
The brilliant way to accomplish this project without removing any doors is to only remove one hinge at a time from the doors. WAY easier, people. Holding those doors up to screw the hinges back in was NOT EASY. And I was the one with the drill, not the door.
We kept all the screws together in a small box so that we didn’t lose any of them. You do not need to sand the screws.
Step 2: Using coarse steel wool or sand paper, remove the shiny coat from your hardware. I found it easier to use the sand paper on flat parts (mainly the hinges) and the steel wool on the curvy portions (the handles). We have the lever type of handle on our doors, so you may find that using only sandpaper works fine for you, depending on your particular hardware.
I bought this bag because I wasn’t sure which one I would need, but I only used the coarse grade. It took about an hour, give or take, to do this step for 6 doors, not including the hinges. You will need to use the steel wool over a box/bucket to catch the pieces that fall off. I used on pad of steel wool per 6 doors before it got small enough that I needed to change to another.
Make sure you get all the nooks and crannies: 
Another shot. I actually like the sanded look way better than the shiny!
Step 3: Now you need to wash the hardware in warm, soapy water. I did not immerse them in the water, and I only washed the areas that I sanded. I didn’t want to remove the lubrication in the moving parts of the door. Rinse.
We removed the parts the night before I wanted to spray them so that they had plenty of time to dry. I dried the parts I could with a rag and laid them out to dry overnight. Make sure that the water cannot puddle (lay them to achieve good drainage). I did have one that drained water after an entire night to dry. It didn’t affect the painting for that handle, but you don’t want paint going on top of wet parts!
Stay tuned for the next step: priming!
All posts in this series:
Refinish door hardware part 1: Supply list
Refinish door hardware part 2: Sanding
Refinish door hardware part 3: Priming
Refinish door hardware part 4: Painting
Refinish door hardware part 5: Sealing
Refinish door hardware part 6: The Reveal! And more tips
Refinish door hardware part 7: One month update
This project is linked to The DIY Club’s Krylon Pretty in Paint Party. Click on the link to check out all the other inspiring projects using spray paint!
4 Responses to “Refinishing door hardware Part 2: Sanding”
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OIL RUBBED BRONZE STRIKE PLATE. Hi, I hope you did not spend your money buying a “real” ORB strike plate. They are made from brass and will show exactly the same “rub wear” as the one you refinished. My house is made iwith uber-expensive fittings and exactly the same thing happens. All I can suggest is that you find a way to adjust your strike plate so that the latch just barely scrapes the strike plate. By the way, Brass and Bronze are basically the same metal. Both are alloys of copper and tin. I think there is more tin in Brass which is why it is lighter.
Thank you so much for adding this bit of information! I did find some ORB strike plates that I think will fit the doors that were reasonably priced (2 for around $3) that were in the security section of Lowes/HD. I bought a few forever ago to try them out and haven’t gotten around to actually putting them in
Now I won’t feel bad if these wear the same as my spray painted version. I couldn’t believe how expensive the ORB ones were online! Thanks again for adding this.
Kristen, I am actually considering using your idea to turn my toilet paper holder, towel bars, and other bathroom fixtures ORB. I even considered doing it to my light fixture, but it has A LOT of rust on it. I know I could sand it off, but the glass part is outdated as well. Might benefit me to buy new all around. I will let you know how it turns out.
Hi my cousin Brenda
I think you will love how easy it is to change the look with a can of spray paint!! It wouldn’t hurt to try out the ORB on the light and see what you think before you buy new–especially if you have a little extra paint to use up. Make sure you use a metal primer that is for rusty pieces. The “clean” metal primer I used is for clean (non-rusty) metal and there is one for rusty, but I’m not sure of the terminology. Can’t wait to hear how it goes!!