Painting Brass Fireplace Doors

By

Cyinda

Before painting, clean the area with rubbing alcohol!
You'll need to use a High Temperature paint. You can either buy a paint made to paint car motors or you can buy a special paint that's made for wood stoves. I would use spray-paint. The high-temp spray paint is not hard to find. It's sold with all the other spray paints at Home Depot & other stores. You may find a larger selection of high-temp pain at auto-parts stores. If you buy "regular" paint that is not made to get hot, it may easily bubble-up, crack or chip-off from the heat of the fire. To paint over something shiny & metallic, you'll want an OIL-based paint or Enamel, NOT "water-based"!

* Prep Work:
To paint brass, you'll need to first give it some "tooth" by roughing it up a little with sand paper or steel wool, then prime (high temp) then paint (high temp)... Sometimes you can find a paint/primer mix. Some high-temp paints don't "set-up" until they are heated. Read the directions on the can thoroughly. After sanding, remove any dust then wipe-down the whole area with rubbing alcohol & a paper towel! Sanding may sound like a hassle, but it has to be done! (unless you are using Hammerite paint)

* Other High Temperature:
Don't accidentally buy "stove black" the cream wood stove paints (that look like canned shoe-polish). They are made for painting cast-iron or steel wood stoves. These creamy paints usually come in matte-black, but rarely you can get them in other colors (like brown, hunter & navy). I have used this kind of wood stove paint many times & they are simply wonderful. They can make an old rusty wood stove look like brand-new again! But they can't be used over metal or glossy areas (like yours). Buy high-temp spray pain instead.

* Masking
If you have glass doors, take wet newspaper or wet computer paper & stick this wet paper to the glass. Be sure to use blue masking tape to cover anyplace you don't want painted! If you need to mask-off bricks, sometimes tin-foil works best, because you can easily make the foil adhere to the bricks by running a cloth or your hand along the foil until it conforms to the shape of the bricks & temporarily sticks to them. Also, put newspaper under the painting area.

* Hammerite:
If you want a hammered metallic finish, you can buy Hammerite spray paint. Hammerite looks amazing & comes in many metallic colors & there is no need for primer. Be sure to open your windows because it is a stinky oil-based paint. I don't know if Hammerite is a high-temp paint, so if the fireplace is for more than "show" & you actually use it, check the back of the can or ask the Home Depot paint person. I you use Hammerite, you won't first need to sand the area. Hammerite comes in many colors including an antique brass & a pewter look. It's a wonderful, durable brand! Hammerite usually has a "hammered" texture, but it also comes in a smooth satin or gloss finish. Another nice thing about Hammerite is you can paint right over rust!

How do you paint fireplace doors that are brass? I am contemplating taking on this as a project and am not sure where to start?