Actually, Frank, I knew a high end millwork and antique furniture finisher in South Carolina who used the last method mentioned whenever he encountered new looking hardware on a cabinet. He was kind of a crude fellow. He had to remove the hardware to refinish the wood anyway, so he would toss the hardware in a bucket and sit it out in the back yard in the sun. At break time he'd step out and whiz in the bucket. When the finishing job was complete, he'd dump out the bucket, hit the contents with the garden hose, and re-install on the cabinet for a beautiful finished project with seemingly natural old patina. Hey, at least he washed it off first.
Dave
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