Cabinet Pulls in Brushed Steel and Brushed Bronze

We have in previous posts discussed how to create colorful patinas and oil rubbed finishes on bronze hardware, but we are often asked to create more understated finishes and are able to do so by brushing or sand-blasting or polishing the surface of the piece.

While the Ergo cabinet pull is contemporary in design it takes on a jewel like appearance when highly polished and becomes subtler when brushed or sand blasted to a low luster.  As with most of our cabinet hardware this cabinet pull can also be ordered in silicon bronze which is a warmer golden toned alloy. Natural bronze, like stainless steel can also be highly polished for a mirror finish or brushed for a subtler effect.

Modern Cabinet Pulls

Once the right amount of luster has been achieved color and highlights can then be added either by creating textural tones with polished and non-polished areas or by applying colored patinas to all or part of the cabinet pull.

In the group photograph the Ergo pull is shown in 4 quite distinctive finishes. The top view shows this 7” wide piece cast in stainless steel and finished in a two-tone luster with the face highly polished and the balance in a softer fine sand blasted finish that accentuates the shape of the wave design. The bottom picture shows the pull cast in silicon bronze and finely brushed. The center pictures demonstrate how the bronze tone can be developed from a light antique to an almost iron black finish using cold patinas that are sealed in place using with oils applied with a soft fine cloth.

How to Create Oil Rubbed Patinas for Bronze Door Handles

Our bronze door handles are offered in a variety of hot and cold patinas but the most popular c are our light and dark antique patinas. I hope to explain how we create these 2 patinas step by step using our daisy cabinet pull to demonstrate the process.

Plant Cabinet Knobs and Pulls

Over time bronze will develop its unique patina and its surface color can range from brown to black to blue or green as it reacts to the chemical properties in the local atmosphere and as the surface of the bronze begins to oxidize. With our antique finishes we try to emulate the brown and black surface tones to create a controlled aged appearance.  To do so we use a product made by Birchwood Technologies called   M20 Antique Black. Their solution, unlike pigmented stains, does not sit on the surface of the metal but rather through chemical conversion it creates a 3 to 4 micron thick patina.  However, before this process happens the bronze handle must be cleaned.

Surface Preparation

Our castings are first placed in a sealed and pressurized chamber and glass beads made from fine silica are air- sprayed into the chamber to remove  small casting burrs or rough particles.

We then remove even smaller burrs or scratches with a buffing wheel and disks, progressing as needed, from medium grit to fine grit disks. The disks we use are made by Standard Abrasives and made from a tough resin reinforced nylon fiber with aluminum oxide which acts as an abrasive element. Since the nylon web is un-woven it is more flexible and so will follow the contours of the bronze.

To remove fiber particles, dust or other surface impurities we clean the piece with an air pressure hose.

Patina by Conversion Coating

Using M20 we make our own solution using 1 part M20 and 1 part distilled water mixed in a non-reactive dipping vessel.  The piece is immersed for 30 to 60 seconds and then neutralized by immersion into another vessel of distilled water.  If,upon inspection, we see that certain areas have not reacted to the solution and are still bright we re-clean those areas and dip again.

Highlighting

As you can see from the # 3 above the chemical conversion creates a fairly uniform patina which is somewhat drab. To create greater contrast we gently and strategically burnish by hand areas with a fine nylon abrasive pad and thereby re-expose the golden tones of the bronze casting.

Sealing

To seal the bronze we use a soft cloth to apply 2 coats of oil and once dry, finish with hard wax. There are many  products to choose from but we have found Sculpt Nouveau’s  metal oil and black wax easy to work with see useful links below.

Usefullinks:

http://www.standardabrasives.com/

http://www.sculptnouveau.com/

https://www.birchwoodtechnologies.com/