Many households choose metal products for some of their furniture for their non-corrosive and sturdy nature. These furniture items, particularly those made of brass, tend to last longer even longer than the house itself whose structure will slowly disintegrate. Brass items such as metal lamps, bed frames, and certain brass may endure, but they need proper maintenance to preserve them.
Before you even apply those polishing cleaners on your metal furniture, you have to make sure they are, indeed, made out of brass, or are brass-plated. Brass-plated objects are generally easier to preserve as these metal products are coated with brass. You will need to polish them off regularly and keep the shine using the proper cleaning products or the brass plating would come off.
Authentic brass furniture requires more know-how to clean or polish properly. Be careful with lacquered brass furniture; they’re better off cleaned, not polished because of their protective coating. If the furniture is exposed to liquid, use lukewarm water to wipe the surface dry.
Non-lacquered brass items are more vulnerable to tarnishes but you need not have to attend to them too often to keep their shine, particularly with antique brass items. In fact, antique brass, while maintained for their value, should not be polished off too much that their value as antique depreciates. You can just simply dust off the dirt to keep them clean.
Time can be both an ally and enemy of brass furniture. Without proper preservation, these items would deteriorate, as with most things that fade with neglect.
Rotax Metals 